Chicago Style Pizza at Bella Bacino's

Okay, so there seems to exist somewhat of a pizza debate between Chicago style pizza and NY style. I think this is a really dumb argument, because Chicago Style is really more of a completely different dish. I love both kinds of pizza and I crave both separately. You don't compare a hot dog to a braut, they are different foods, both similar and both delish, but still distinct. Same thing with the pizzas.

Now that that is out of the way, growing up in Chicago I realized that my standards for deep dish are set rather high. For example, St. Louis's Pi Pizza is raved about because they have deep dish, but when I tried it I really didn't think it was that good. At first I couldn't figure out why, and then I realized my standards were really high, and none of the friends I was trying it with were from chi town. 

So that takes me to my favorite deep dish pizza in the city. It's a place called Bella Bacino's which is on Wabash across the river from Trump Tower. It is the cheesiest pizza in the city and it's sooooooooo goooooood. I really only eat it once or twice a year because it's basically a pound of cheese. But my family and I love to go. The restaurant has beautiful outdoor seating in the summer. I should also note that you have to ask for a pizza menu here, they won't give you one. It's an Italian restaurant, but the pizza is what's amazing here. Pizza takes about 30 minutes to cook but it is well worth the wait.

As I mentioned in my previous post I was downtown for the Midwest Geobiology Symposium this weekend presenting research with the rest of my lab group. I suggested that we go to Bacino's for pizza and a bunch of us ended up there on Saturday night.

There were nine of us. We got three large pizzas and we had about half a pizza left. Everyone loved it! I was really happy to be able to share one of my favorite Chicago restaurants with them. We all ordered beers (I got a Dogfish pumpkin ale (see above)), and had a really good time. I think the waiter really liked our table. He brought out these bags of fresh from the oven complimentary chocolate chip cookies after the meal. That's never happened to me before, so it must be for big groups. We were stuffed but still managed to eat the amazing cookies. It was a really nice meal and it was fun sharing Bacino's with people who had never tried Chicago pizza before :D

Pumpkin Coffee and Pumpkin Spice Milanos

Yessss more pumpkin! I warned you it's this time of year again so there will be heaps of pumpkin stuff on this blog. I purchased pumpkin spice milanos a couple of weeks ago because I was super curious. Unfortunately, they didn't live up to my expectations, they were dry and the pumpkin chocolate flavor didn't mesh as well as I wanted. Also I think I'm completely spoiled for biscuits (packaged cookies) now because of Tim Tams. 

Anyway, I had also fought this pumpkin spice coffee from World Market. THIS MIGHT BE MY FAVORITE THING FROM WM TO DATE. This coffee is fantastic, and is now my new favorite blend. I basically have gotten used to drinking coffee black, though I still prefer it with a splash of skim milk. So when I want coffee in the morning brewed at the apartment, I'll just suck it up and have it black. But this coffee is different. It has just the slightest hint of pumpkin flavor at the beginning of the sip, as well as in the after taste. This makes it go down very easily and cuts the bitterness of the beans. I LOVE THIS COFFEE SO SO MUCH, I'm actually considering stocking up on it so I have it for the off season (It's only sold from September to November). 

So I have my amazing coffee, and I had all of these pumpkin milanos… and I thought to myself that the milanos could be vastly improved by dipping them in my coffee. I was spot on. The coffee stopped them from being dry (duh) and the pumpkin in the coffee brought out the pumpkin flavor in the cookies better. A good solution in how to use my milanos, and an excellent pumpkiny breakfast!

Pumpkin Pie Mini Cakes

So guess what!? It's autumn in the states and that means it's finally pumpkin season again!!!!!!! This means I can go wild with pumpkin flavored things and make some great pumpkin recipes. To start the season off right I made these neat pumpkin pie cakes. I used this Pinterest recipe, and basically followed it to the letter (minus the whipped cream topping), so feel free to refer to it there. The thing that was so tasty and intriguing about these cupcakes is that the inside had the spongy moist consistency of pie. And it tasted like pie too! It was really strange and i've never had anything like it before, but they were strangely addictive. I made mini ones since we only have mini cupcake tins, but I think this recipe would be better with a full size cupcake pan. Also I would put Cool Whip on top of them next time (though we did have some leftover chocolate frosting and I put that on some of them, and it was AMAZING). This was a fun and easy recipe to do, nice if you are craving cupcakes. However, I tend to like pumpkin pie better, so next time with all of these ingredients available I'd just make a pie instead. 

Brekkie at the Queen Victoria Markets

So I was in Melbourne for about 36 hours. On the morning of my second day I decided to check out the Queen Victoria markets for breakfast and browsing. I ended up going with a girl that I met at my hostel who had also finished her semester abroad at UQ, such a small world. It was about a 5 block walk to the markets. They are indoor and take up an entire block. Exploring them took me a solid couple of hours. It was incredible! There are aisles and aisles of fresh fruit, deli stall, and souvenir stalls. My favorite was the deli section (above), there were so many wonderful and unique aussie and cultural foods. I ended up buying breakfast at some of the stalls here. First I got a dessert pastry, because why not :P ? It was a pistachio almond twist (below), and it was amazing!!! It was filled with almond and pistachio flavored spread and was a great way to start the morning. 

As I wandered around more I saw Russian Pastry shop. They and these wonderful savory pastries, which I cannot remember what they are called for the life of me (this is why you don't wait 2 weeks to blog about things). I bought a pumpkin one, and it was extremely tasty. It was perfect for a chilly morning, the filling was warm and creamy and the dough was soft and chewy. 

After breakfast I walked around all of the stalls browsing. It is truly incredible how large the place is. Also the fruit was so fresh and cheap!!! I got a mandarin and ate it one the spot from the organic produce stalls. I also looked (but didn't buy) around the souvenir section. Many of the stalls sold similar things, but it was since to walk around and browse. A great start to my exploring day in Melbourne!

Pumpkin Ciabatta

This was my lunch my last day in Perth in the port town of Fremantle. Fremantle is a small town on the Indian Ocean, it's one of the busiest ports in Australia. It also has a history, it used to be home to one of the biggest prisons in Australia, and that prison is now a world heritage site (see below). Despite its dark history, the town itself is beautiful. It has streets lined with colorful colonial style buildings. There are shops and restaurants everywhere you look. I spend an extremely pleasant afternoon wandering around exploring. Popping in and out of shops, climbing up overlooks to see the ocean, and of course wandering around Fremantle's famous Cappuccino Strip. 

This is one part of the town's main street that is positively lined with little coffee cafes. I didn't really stop for coffee but couldn't resist getting lunch at the Fremantle Baking Company. If you haven't noticed by now, bakeries here sell much more than desserts. They are famous for pies, quiches, savory pastries and sandwiches. A bakery is usually a really safe bet for a fabulous and fresh lunch in Oz. I saw that they had a lot of vegetarian items on their menu at this bakery and was sold. I ordered the pumpkin ciabatta sandwich. They toasted it for me and served it up hot. And I've got to say, this was the most satisfying and flavorful vegetarian sandwich I've had in a good long time. It consisted of a marinated veggie salad of pumpkin, capsicum, zucchini and feta. There were also some fresh greens on the sandwich. But the crowing ingredient was the caramelized onion aoli, which added just a hint of sweet/tart flavor that brought the whole thing together. The crunch of the bread and the complex flavors made this such a yummy lunch. And the perfect thing to compliment my low-key yet wonderful afternoon in Fremantle!

Denman's Cellar Beer Cafe

This place was awesome and it was not where we were planning on ending up! We headed off of the beaten path in Airle Beach with the intent of trying Moroccan food. Unfortunately that restaurant was closed. Fortunately, Denman's was next door. It was a beer cafe so it was attached to a classy liquor shop. you get to browse the shelves and choose your drink before you are seated. It's also a small plates menu, which meant we were able to get a gourmet meal without having to pay a ton. I got a Rekorderlig orange ginger cider. It was really refreshing and had a little zip to it. It also went really well with my spinach pumpkin quiche and sweet potato crisps. We sat outside which was really nice, I very much liked the atmosphere of this place. It had a bit of a classier crowd than the main strip of the town, but was still a fun pace to be!

Spicy Pumpkin Dip and Capsicum

I love trying different dips because they are a fun an healthy thing to eat with veggies. And I love eating veggies. So when I saw a PUMPKIN dip at the grocery store I had to try it. As I posted about before pumpkins are different in Australia (see the pic on the cap above) so taste a bit more like squash. However, this difference did not keep me for enjoying this dip. It was basically hummus with pumpkin and a couple of spices in it. It was quite good. I dipped sliced carrots (no baby carrots in Australia) and red peppers in it. Now red peppers are one of the first foods that I discovered they have a completely different name for here. Bell peppers are call capsicum, and peppers are spicy peppers. I actually like this terminology because it quickly distinguishes between the two with no confusion.

So ultimately, while this post does highlight a yummy snack, it is actually more about how terminology is different here. Some food here has the same names, but is actually something completely different (pumpkin, iced coffee), or it is the same food but has a different name (capsicum). It really highlights that even though I'm in a country that speaks the same language there are still a lot of differences in terminology and meaning. I've actually started completely changing some of the words I use because otherwise people have no clue what I'm talking about. For example, college is uni. My uni is Wash U, if I say college people get really confused because college means dorm here. So, while I probably won't come back with an Aussie accent, I will likely have to recondition myself to refer to certain things the American way.

Australian Pies

When I think pie, I think blueberry, apple or pumpkin. America is famous for it's large sweet pies. Apple pie and cherry pie are American traditions for the Fourth of July, and pumpkin pie and pecan pie are Thanksgiving staples. America loves it's pies. But in the States pie is a dessert.

In Australia, a pie is a small savory pastry stuffed with meat, cheese, potatoes, and/or vegetables. And here beef pies are as uniquely Australian as apple pies are american. They are something you grab for lunch, or a light dinner. And boy are they fantastic!! I've been in Australia for a week and I've already had two pies. the first was a veggie pie (above right), and the second was a pumpkin lentil feta pie (top left). Because of my flexitarianism I really liked that most pie places have at least one vegetarian pie!

The veggie pie had carrots, celery, broccoli, and potatoes in it. It had a crunchy crust and melted cheese on top. I was so yummy. I tasted like a hand held chicken pot pie, minus the chicken. We ate them in Manley while waiting for the ferry to take us back to Sydney.

The second pie was my favorite of the two. The pastry was soft and flaky and it covered the top of the pie. This pie had to be eaten with a fork. It was so savory and oh so good. The lentils made it taste really homey and I loved it. I should note that pumpkin in Australia is a bit different than what we have in the states (see below). They're like a cross between a squash and a pumpkin. To me they tasted like a cross between them as well. I really liked it actually. It's nice to try something different from what we have at home and still like it.

Pies are so big here that they have a pie chain restaurant called Pie Face. They are here as frequently as McDonalds are in the states. I have yet to try a Pie Face pie but I can't wait because I can't wait to eat more of these!

Pumpkin Smoothie

Since I opened a can of pumpkin for the pasta sauce I decided to use it for a healthy smoothie. I combined a banana, a bit of skim milk and some nutmeg and pumpkin spice with a hefty scoop of pumpkin. I then mixed it all together in my Mom's super fancy blender. I was really good and creamy! Some critiques are that I should have used frozen bananas to make it colder and also give it more of an ice creamy constancy. We didn't have any at my house so it wasn't an option, but if I made this again I would try and have some frozen bananas. Overall, it was a nice way to use the pumpkin and made a perfect serving size!

Pumpkin Ravioli with Pumpkin Rosemary Sauce

It's been awhile, but I have been doing a little bit of cooking at home in Chicago. The reason that I haven't been cooking as much is because my Mom tends to make dinner for our family (she's an amazing cook) so there haven't been many days where I make my own meals. I'm totally spoiled. But occasionally I've had a chance to cook in the huge well stocked kitchen at out house. My first creation was Pumpkin Ravioli which my Mom bought specifically for me. The ravs were easy to cook, but finding a sauce was not. I wanted to create a fun (not horribly unhealthy) sauce to spice up the dish a bit. I raided the pantry and decided that I would make a sauce using sautéed shallots, pumpkin, Trader Joe's Apple Cider, Balsamic vinegar and rosemary. It was a bit of an experiment, but turned out pretty well. The texture was probably my least favorite thing about the sauce, but the sweet/tangy flavor was really good and unique.

Thoughts on this Recipe:

• Firstly, here's the instructions for anyone who wants to try the sauce. a bit over 1/2 cup of pumpkin, 1/3 cup of apple cider, 1 chopped and sautéed shallot, 1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (and as needed), rosemary as needed. Basically chop and sauté the shallots. add them to the pumpkin and cider on medium heat. Then add the balsamic and rosemary until you reach the desired balance of tart/sweet/rosemary.
• I started the pasta right when I finished sautéing the shallots, and then made the sauce as the pasta was cooking. The timing worked out pretty well. 
• Like I said I didn't love the texture of the sauce, I think it needed some milk or cream to make it a little more regular, but I didn't want to make a fattening cram sauce. I've got to brainstorm something that would fit here.
• I would probably add more rosemary next time

A good attempt, not my favorite but I was proud of the creativity.

Jilly's Pumpkin Pie Cupcake

I mentioned that this was one of my favorite Jilly's Cupcakes in my previous post. The Pumpkin Pie Cupcake. Pumpkin cake, pumpkin pie filling, vanilla buttercream with cinnamon sugar, and a piece of ACTUAL PUMPKIN PIE on top. It's a cupcake topped with a piece of pie. Two desserts in one! And PUMPKIN. You can see why I'm excited. Since the pie cupcakes are Jilly's November specialty and it's November, my roommate and I made our monthly Jilly's run to grab some of their awesomely creative November flavors. Besides the pumpkin pie cupcake they also have an apple pie a la mode, pecan pie, and french silk cupcake for November. It's the perfect theme for the month of Thanksgiving. For me, The food highlight of this holiday is not the turkey, it's the pie. Jilly's has it down.

 I love Jilly's and am so fortunate to live so close to an amazing cupcakery. Hopefully I'll be going there each month to sample the new flavors, so be on the look out for monthly Jilly's posts.

Pumpkin Muffins

These muffins were a last minute idea, but one that turned out very successfully. I'm in this multidisciplinary environmental sustainability program and every semester or so the professor who runs it has all of the students over to his house for dinner. He and his wife are absolutely wonderful! And they always work to have a yummy dinner and a fun evening for all of us, that I wanted to bring something for them this time. So when I woke up that morning my first thought was, what could I make? When my family visited last month they brought me a fall care package and it included a couple of boxes of Trader Joe's pumpkin bread mix. I decided to use one of those to make these muffins. It was really simple, and I had some left over batter so I made a mini loaf (see below) that I left at home for my roommate and I to enjoy. The muffins were a big hit at the dinner. I made 24. 

Thoughts on this Recipe:

• It's a fairly simple "follow the instructions on the box" recipe
• I sprayed the pans with Baker's Joy. This was a good choice because the muffins came out with no problem. Especially important if baking for others…
• I didn't have time to make/buy a frosting, but if I was to make these again I would frost them with some type of cream cheese frosting
• I'm so glad that I can keep extending pumpkin season by making and eating many pumpkin things! Sorry if you're getting tired of my pumpkin love :P

Since starting this blog I've discovered that I love to share the cooking experience with others, whether it's through sharing actual food or just pictures and stories. When I include others my food becomes something bigger than myself. It's a creative experience that I can use to brighten other people's days. It makes me happy to see the people that I care about happy!

Pumpkin Pie

Alright, we've established I have a pumpkin obsession. So what's better than pumpkin in it's purest dessert form pumpkin pie? The answer. Almost nothing. Pumpkin Pie is my second favorite kind of pie (the reason it's second is because my mother's blueberry pie cannot be beat). It's also a relatively easy pie to make (aka hard to screw up). For these reasons, I ended up making it for dessert for the date night meal I made for my boyfriend last weekend. It turned out wonderfully. We ate it hot, and we both loved it. Actually, it was so loved that myself, my roommate, and one of our friends finished it the next day… And my boyfriend and I are planning on making another one tomorrow night… Basically, yes it's that good and I have four people to vouch for the pie :)

Thoughts on this Dessert:

• For the filling I basically followed the recipe on the back of the pumpkin can. But instead of condensed milk I used 1 cup of skim. It turned out really well, and was healthier, so I think I will continue to do that from now on.
• I also used pumpkin pie spice instead of the separate spices.
• I used store bought graham cracker crust. This is easy and doesn't taste much different than home-made graham cracker crust. 
• As desserts go, this one is actually on the healthier side. The worst thing about it is the sugar that the recipe calls for… otherwise its just eggs, milk, and pumpkin.
• I served it with cool whip, this is how I ate it as a child so now cool whip and pumpkin pie are interconnected in my mind.

As I said, huge success! And its reassuring to know that I can easily make the most classic of pumpkin treats :)

Festive Fall Trail Mix

I love trail mix. It's the perfect food to eat if you need to keep your energy up but you don't have time for a meal. Lots of things I do fall into this category. Studying, working in lab, hiking, field work, kayaking... I could go on. In all of these cases, I can't leave what I'm doing or take an extended break to eat a meal. This is where trail mix comes in. I can pop a handful of it when I'm getting tried or hungry without really taking away from what I'm doing (except lab where I have to step out to take a handful, but basically the same concept). This morning as I was leaving my apartment I realized that today was going to be one of those days where I wouldn't have time to eat a meal until I came home at around 7p or so. I've gotten better at realizing that not eating for 9 hours is not a good idea. Lately I've been making sure that I have something with me, usually an apple or a luna bar. But today I decided to be creative and make some trail mix. And because its still fall, I made a very comforting fall flavor profile trail mix. Today's creation was made out of a generous handful of Trader Joe's Trek Mix, which has cranberries, almonds, and cashews in it. About half a handful of my pumpkin seeds (see last weeks post), and a smattering of candy corn. The Trek Mix reminds me of thanksgiving flavors, and combined with the pumpkin seeds and the halloween candies it was a very fall mix. I wasn't 100% sure how all of the flavors would taste together, but I ended up being super impressed. The pumpkin seeds have a savory/sweet flavor profile that went really well with the nuts and cranberries. But the real star of this snack was the candy corn. Now since these are basically just sugar I was a afraid they would overwhelm the rest of the flavors, but since I only put a couple in that wasn't the case! They actually went super well with the seeds and the nutty flavor of the almonds. All and all, successful snackage! Kept me full day long, which was good because I had non-stop class and labs today.

Thoughts on this Snack:

• Trail mix is something that can be unhealthy if you eat a ton of it or if it's only made of candy. That's why balancing the ingredients, and only taking as much as you want to eat throughout your day with you is important. 
• Some other great things to put in trail mix are peanuts, hazelnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, granola, reese's pieces, dark chocolate m&ms, raisins, banana chips, dried apricots, dried mango, dried pineapple, dried papaya, and dried blueberries. Mix and match as pleases you.
• The whole point of trail mix is something quick, nonperishable, with lots of types of energy. Thats why nuts are good, lots of protein, nutrients, and energy. The dried fruit is good for replenishing vitamins. Also it's okay to add some candy to the mix, like m&m's chocolate covered raisins or blueberries, as long as it is the smallest fraction of the mix. Some simple sugars are good for getting an energy boost, and dark chocolate has a lot of antioxidants in it. 
• Also be aware that things like chocolate melt if you're going to be in the sun or somewhere hot. That will turn the mix into a disgusting mess, so be conscientious when picking your ingredients. 
• Basically follow these 3 trail mix rules: 1. Moderation is key, 2. Choose ingredients that taste good together, 3. Tailor your mix for your activity.

I'm so happy that even after Halloween the fall time spirit is still going strong!!

Pumpkin Seeds

One of my favorite halloween traditions is carving pumpkins. Firstly, it has to do with pumpkins! Secondly, its really fun! And finally, you get an awesome treat as well as a piece of art when you are finished. This treat to which I refer, is roasted pumpkin seeds. Think a cross between salty nuts and crunchy chips and you get something as satisfying and addicting as pumpkins seeds. This is not my first year carving pumpkins at Wash U, my roommate and I have made it a tradition to do so. And we've gotten pretty good at it! The pumpkin below on the left was mine and the one on the right was my roommate's. Her's turned out soooo well this year, I'm continuously impressed with her talent and creativity :)

This was the first year that I was actually able to do something with the seeds. This was my first try making this ever, and they turned out so incredibly well!!! After we finished the pumpkins (see above), I picked the worst of the goo off of the seeds and then rinsed them in water (below on the left), this cleans them really well without much effort. The next step was to boil some salted water, and then put the seeds in for about 10 minutes. This separates the outside of the seed from the inner part, and also gets them salty. They look puffy in the water. Next I had to decide what seasoning to use. The first thing I did was look at what spices we had in the cabinet. I had forgotten that at my last trip to Trader Joe's I had bought their pumpkin pie spice, and I had yet to use it. This gave me the idea for a salty-sweet flavor profile for the seeds. I mixed 2 teaspoons of spice, with 1 teaspoon of garlic, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 2 teaspoons or olive oil. I mixed this together into a kinda glaze. When the seeds had soaked for long enough, I drained them into a strainer and then placed them on a baking sheet. I tossed them on the sheet with the glaze. Then I roasted them for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. They were splendid (see below on the right). My roommate and I were actually surprised how well the flavoring fit as a yummy fall treat. I've had a hard time not snacking on them every time I now enter the kitchen!

 Thoughts on this Recipe:

• There are so many ways that pumpkin seeds can turn out badly, I was so happy that I was able to make this recipe correctly on the first try.
• Note that the measurements for the seasoning are for the seeds that come from 2 mid-size pumpkins, so correct the proportions appropriately.
• The part of this recipe that I was the most worried about was the actual roasting. I really didn't want to burn the seeds, so I ended up cooking them in 10-5 minute intervals and checking to make sure they were okay every so often. 35 minutes turned out to be enough, we could probably have left them in for another minute or two and it would have been fine.

Overall this is one of the recipes that I did on a fly and was incredibly impressed by. It's cooking experiments like this that make me believe that I'm starting to get really good at this cooking thing :)

Pumpkin Spice Latte

As I've mentioned before, around a certain time of year pumpkin flavored stuff becomes readily available. One of these famous pumpkin treats are the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice lattes. Everyone loves them, and I'm no exception. During my beginning of October grocery run I happened to come across the Starbuck Via instant mixes for pumpkin spice lattes, and because I am my pumpkin obsessed self, I bought them. It turned out to be a good decision. These are individual packets of the pumpkin spice latte mix, that when added to hot milk create an instant recreation of pumpkin spice lattes. While, instant coffee really cannot live up to the expectations of the real thing, these are still pretty good for a 2 second instant pack. Just add hot milk and stir, and instant fall comfort drink. 

Thoughts on this Drink:

• These are nice to drink as a latte, but I also use them to flavor other things. An example is my banana "ice cream"
• Besides their connivence,  a nice thing about these is that while the real pumpkin spice lattes are gone now that October has ended, the packs will stick around for a little while longer. So this is a good way to extend pumpkin spice season!

Overall, really great if you have realistic expectations about Starbucks VIA. Not to dump on VIA since they sponsored a free Parachute concert on campus at the beginning of October. I tend to like Starbucks instant more because of that, which was probably their marketing strategy all along... but well, free concert :)

Crepes and Coco at Crepes Etc.

Firstly, I apologize for the demolished state of the food in these pictures. We were halfway through our meal when I remembered to take them... but that doesn't detract from the awesomeness of the food. Crepes Etc. is a breakfast place in the Central West End. This area recently became more accessible to me because I now have access to a car and the Saturday morning of my visit I shared the area with my family. My roommate had recommended this place, so we got breakfast here. The walls are pink and white stripped and it has the feel of a cutesy french coffee shop. They are famous for their crepes and hot chocolate, but have a full breakfast menu. I got the Crazy Caprese Crepe (above). My sister had the Pumpkin Gelato Crepe (below), and my parents got omelets. My Dad's delicious goat cheese and red pepper omelet is pictured below.

All of the food was really yummy. I very much liked my crepe which was packed with spinach and had pesto on top. However, the highlight of the food was the breakfast potatoes. My family unanimously agreed they were the best breakfast potatoes we'd ever had. They tasted like a combination of has browns and french fries. Yuuuummmmmm! As I said before, Crepes Etc. is also famous for their hot coco. They made their own marshmallows, and serve the drink in gigantic size mugs (see below). Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the marshmallows for you since they were already eaten by the time I got around to taking a shot :)

Thoughts on Crepes Etc.

• This place is obviously popular for good reason! It was packed when we were there and we were lucky to find a table. But the line to order the food moved fast, and they have outdoor seating.
• They have a huge menu of both sweet and savory crepes. I love savory crepes and was super happy that they have some really great vegetarian ones here. 

I loved the food and atmosphere of this place. I was so happy I could share it with my family, and will definitely try to get back here again!

Jilly's October Cupcakes

Jilly's Cupcakes is something that my sister and I discovered randomly watching Cupcake Wars. She was visiting me here in St. Louis a couple of summers ago, and we were watching the show when we realized that the Jilly's Cupcake guys were from St. Louis, I think they mentioned the science center and the Cardinals. I immediately looked up the shop online, and low and behold, it was in St. Louis! Their main store front is on Delmar, many blocks west of the loop. It was too hot and far for us to go get cupcakes that day, but we eventually got to try these award winning treats (Jilly's is actually a 2 time winner of cupcake wars)! And it was totally worth the wait. To put it simply these are the best cupcakes I've ever tasted. My Mom now compares every cupcake she eats to Jilly's, and finds them lacking. She's very blunt about it, and it's hilarious. But really these cupcakes are works of art. Very yummy works of art. They are gorgeously decorated and frosted, and the cake is to die for! My Dad says his favorite thing about them is that the cake is so amazing, he thinks that most cupcakes focus on the frosting, but in his opinion Jilly's does both really well. My favorite thing about them is the unique flavors and fillings. If you haven't already figured it out this shop is one of my family's absolute favorite things. And they came to visit me this weekend (aka the reason there will soon be a ton of stl food posts). October is a special time for my family because my Dad and sister's birthdays are 3 days apart at the end of October. This time they landed the week before they came to visit, so I surprised them by picking up some birthday cupcakes for them, that were waiting at my apartment when they walked it. We all very much enjoyed the treat!

The store front is really cool, it has the cupcakes displayed in trays and a plastic window to the bakery area in the back. They also have a peace, love, cupcakes decal on the wall that I think is super cute. Jilly's has an interesting cupcake flavor system. They have monthly special cupcakes that change every month, along with their daily selections. My favorite Jilly's seasonal cupcake is the Pumpkin Pie one (duh), which has an actual slice of pumpkin pie on top! They usually have them in November so I'll hopefully be posting about them next month. The ones I got this time around (pictured at the top of the post in clockwise order starting on the upper right) were the Twisted Pink Velvet, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Oreo S'more, and Carmel Apple. All but the Twisted Pink are the October monthly flavors. My family's favorite is the Twisted Pink so I had to get that one. Its a pink velvet cupcake with carmel in the center (my Mom is crazy about carmel and she loves it!). Otherwise I try to get seasonal flavors since they are only available for a limited time.

Some Thoughts about Jilly's and their awesomeness:

• Some of the ideas for cupcakes are the most creative thing ever. In September the monthly theme was little kid snacks. They had a nutter butter cupcake, a chocolate pretzel cupcake (this was the most decadent thing ever), and a poptart cupcake. They managed to capture all the flavors of these snacks in their creations and still make them feel refined!
• Also I was a big fan of their chocolate merlot cupcake (which was featured on Cupcake Wars), and their snowcone cupcake as well!
• If you can't tell by the pictures these cupcakes are huge. They are sharing size. My family will usually share 2-3 between four people if that gives you any indication. Also sharing is better because then you get to try more flavors!
• They close around 6p, with times varying depending on day. But they do tend to run out of some of the popular flavors towards the end of the day so get there early!
• Jilly's recently started selling their own brand of ice cream at Shnucks (local stl grocery chain) based on their cupcake flavors. I have yet to try it, but its on my list.

In conclusion these are the best cupcakes ever. You should try them, they will change your life :)

Pumpkin Cookies and Hot Chocolate

My roommate and I have started a new tradition in our apartment. We bake cookies and catch up on TV shows together, it's a practice that I really enjoy. We have yet to try cookies from scratch, but in the mean time we stumbled upon a little pumpkin (!!) flavored secret. Pillsbury has these pumpkin cookies with cream cheese chips in them. We were a bit skeptical at first but decided to buy them on a whim because they were pumpkin and I couldn't resist. They. Are. AMAZING!!! Eating them gooey out of the oven tastes like warm pumpkin bread. The purchase was a good choice. I haven't seen these in stores before so they might be new this year, or it might be because I'm now doing weekly grocery runs and I'm there a lot more often. In addition to the cookies I made myself a cup of coco for last weekend's TV night. I really like the Ovaltine hot chocolate mix because that is what my mom uses and what I drank when I was little. I make it either with skim milk or hot water using the microwave. This week I just used hot water because I was out of milk. I'll be making a lot more hot chocolate as it becomes winter, and I start to crave it on cold nights before bed. Cookies and coco is definitely a comfort thing for me. My family has a tradition were we always have them after playing in the snow, but I like making it part of TV night traditions as well. 

Pumpkin Bars!!

So I might have what you call a pumpkin obsession... As in this ^ is me when fall arrives and pumpkin specials come up on every menu. I had a pumpkin latte the first day the university's coffee spots started selling them. I stopped into Wash U's Einstein bagels for their pumpkin frappe thing (I don't know what it's called but PUMPKIN) and I was super sad that apparently they're out of pumpkin bagels for the season by the FIRST WEEK OF OCTOBER, like, what? But I got the pumpkin smear instead so it's all good. But anyway, as exciting as all of those on-campus pumpkin developments are nothing can come close to the almighty Pumpkin Bar.

These little beauties appear in all of the campus coffee shops starting in October and usually stick around until the end of November. And I have to say, it becomes a problem because when I see them in the case it's a serious exercise in self control to not get one with my morning cup of coffee. Simply said, these are the best pumpkin thing I have ever tasted. Round of applause for the Wash U Pastry Chefs.

So a pumpkin bar is basically if you take everything you love about pumpkin pie and everything you love about vanilla short cake, and make it into one perfect dessert. Yes, if you haven't guessed I'm basically using this post to gush about a pumpkin dessert. But really these are delicious and they have become an integral part of my fall.

And if you go to Wash U go get one!!!! They have them on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Cafe Bergson, but they will soon be around more frequently as the season goes on.

Its sad that I have the pumpkin bar schedule memorized, but PUMPKIN...