food

I’ll gladly take a hamburger… how I asked for it

March 23, 2016

I realize there are many ways for people to eat hamburgers.

Rare.

Medium rare.

Medium.

Medium well.

Well.

There’s probably more in there that I’m missing.

I wanted this burger to have a tad bit of pink on the inside. Didn’t work out that way.

Recently, I went to a place where the choices were basically “pink” and “not pink.”

I don’t like my burger rare. I like it with just a tad bit of color in it, basically so it’s not something I could get at a Five Guys or something along those lines. Each time I have the chance to say how I’d like it cooked, it never comes that way.

It always comes well.

Is it how people cook now? Are there reasons why it’s basically “bleeding” or “not bleeding?”

I can’t stomach meat that’s way too red. Just can’t do it. But I don’t mind that little bit of color. Unfortunately, it seems like I can’t get that anywhere. When you go to a place like Five Guys, or something like that, it doesn’t seem to matter. The burgers are good how they cook them. But some places, when you get something that is cooked all the way through, it just isn’t good.

So how about you? How do you like your burgers? And have you noticed this trend of basically having two choices with how your burger is cooked?

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please Like HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Finding a hidden gem for macarons in Northeast Pennsylvania

February 25, 2016

Every time I wonder about future generations, I seem to come across somebody who fully amazes me with their drive, determination and push to succeed.

This happened once again last week.

On an unseasonably nice day, two of us went on a photo excursion, heading into Pennsylvania. The idea was to find some cool things to photograph, pick up a few geocaches, and just get out and about. I love photo days as you never know what you might find.

Kallista — the owner of Lola Dessert Shoppe — showing off some of her macarons.

Whenever I go traveling on a day with no true “destination,” I always search for French macaron shops. They aren’t the easiest to find (Saratoga is the closest to me, that I knew of), so if I get the chance to grab some, I’m usually quite happy.

French macarons are amazing. If you’ve never had them, you should make sure you do at some point. They are the best “cookie” ever – at least in my eyes. And I like my cookies.

Anyway… I found this little shop in Dunmore, which was close to where we were heading. And heck, there was a cupcake shop/café like a mile or two away – so a possible place for lunch. We needed to check it out.

The shop – Lola Dessert Shoppe – was a small and quaint little spot. A brick storefront, one might almost miss it if you didn’t know it was there. We went inside and it’s very nice. A couple of places to sit, a small glass counter with a few things on the inside and then a few trays of beautiful macarons.

That’s when Kallista came out from the back. She greeted us with a warm smile and helped us. Something about her was intriguing, though. She wasn’t too old, it didn’t seem, but she really had a way around the place.

This flavor was … amazing.

Turns out she’s the owner of this little spot. And she’s the pastry chef.

That’s when it really hit me that there was a cool opportunity here. It had been more than three years since I last added a photo to my 100 Strangers Project, so this seemed like the perfect chance. I had brought my camera in with me so I could snap a few shots of the macarons.

Over the past few years, I’ve had many chances to add people to this project, but I never think about it. In this spot, I thought it was perfect as I was curious how somebody so young owned this shop.

The story is one that gives me hope for future generations. At just 20 (really? At 20, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I “grew up!”), she’s already graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. She came back to her hometown to open this shop and she said she’s the lone spot in Northeast Pennsylvania that makes macarons.

The flavors that day were awesome – a Samoa (like the girl scout cookie), vanilla (amazing), pecan pie (solid), honey lavender (really good), and blueberry pancake (how do the younger kids say things now? OMG!). Yes, I took a mixed box of these home with me. How couldn’t I?

Vanilla might be classic… but it’s oh so good!

Anyway, we chatted with Kallista for a little bit and she told us how she baked with her grandmother and how she loves baking and creating amazing pastries way more than cooking. She makes about 500 or so macarons each week (and from looking at the shop’s Instagram account, it would appear she’ll sell out at times, which is a good thing), and comes up with the flavors on her own. She switches things around, too, so that’s always a way to keep things fresh.

On top of the regular macarons, she also offers ice cream sandwiches with the macarons and had some fruit tarts in the counter, too.

As for the macarons – really good. I find whenever I get the chance to buy these, I bring them home and in the fridge. They stay for about a week, which is nice. I’m jealous of people who live closer to this spot and who can go and visit and try the new flavors as they come out.

When I head down that way for a baseball game or something, I’ll definitely look to stop and get some more macarons. What a great little spot.

If you are going to be in the Scranton area and like authentic French macarons, make sure you stop by and visit. Also on the street is a chocolate shop, which was pretty awesome, too.

If you go:

Lola Dessert Shoppe
214 E Drinker Street
Dunmore, PA
Hours: 12-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 12-4 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Online:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loladessertshoppe/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loladessertshoppe/

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Experiencing Portland’s Voodoo Doughnut

September 7, 2015

The famous pink box!

If you are a fan of any of the food shows out there — be it the Food Network, Cooking channel, Travel, network television etc., I’m sure you can relate to wanting to try places you’ve seen.

I’m most certainly the same way.

Unfortunately, I don’t always plan it out well enough to hit these places, but I’ve had a chance to visit a few.

Yum!

One of those chances happened recently on a trip to the Pacific Northwest. Though based mainly in the Seattle area, a day trip was planned to Portland. And part of that trip?

Voodoo Doughnut.

Voodoo has been on many television shows, including ones on the Travel Channel and the Cooking Network. The Portland hotspot is known for eclectic delights, a bright look and interesting flavors.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Sometimes, places like this — ones that become “destinations” of sorts for foodies or other travelers won’t live up to the hype. They branch out, become big and the quality suffers. That doesn’t seem to be the case at Voodoo, at least by my experience.

The original was the spot I needed to hit. When arriving, the line wasn’t too long and I’d estimate I was in an ordering within 30 minutes or so, which wasn’t bad in my eyes.

At the original in downtown Portland.

TIP: Pull out that smart phone and access their menu via their website. By doing so, you give yourself a chance to look at the menu, see what the doughnuts they offer are and have a good idea in mind, so once you get to the counter, you can order.

When we were walking out, the line was much longer.

Inside is a doughnut-lovers heaven.

There many of the famous pink boxes ready to house your doughnuts. There are showcases of the many magnificent creations. The back looks very busy and there are racks and racks of doughnuts that the workers grab. Everybody seemed so happy, too, which always makes for a great experience. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted when I went to order.

One note — this isn’t Dunkin’ Donuts. By that I mean, you don’t get a dozen for five bucks. The doughnuts are priced depending on what you are getting. There are different sizes of some of these (there was one that was massively huge — I decided it was in my best interest to skip that one!), so that means the price of the six you get could be different from the next person etc.

One of Voodoo’s most famous creations!

I ended up getting six or so, figuring I’d have them throughout the trip to Seattle. That meant I had the chance to test several different ones, and I really enjoyed each of them.

TIP: When getting your doughnuts, take a chance. Ask the person serving you his or her favorite doughnut and grab one. You might find yourself a great surprise. I did this and the one the girl chose was fantastic.

Despite a dreary sort of day (it was overcast and had drizzled once or twice — but that’s fine as in Seattle that day were thunderstorms, so we avoided the one bad day of weather during the Seattle trip), sitting outside and biting into one of these creations was delightful.

I fully enjoyed the experience at Voodoo and would totally recommend it. The doughnuts are delicious and the people were friendly and helpful. Definitely worth the stop.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Minus 2 Days of Writing: Gouda (1/28)

February 1, 2014

(Today starts another 30 minus 2 writing challenge. This post will be up for the afternoon, after which the Snapshot Saturday will be up.)

When I travel, I usually like to seek out a few things.

Local hot dog joints.

There is Gouda on that burger!

Craft beer

Pizza

Burger joints

Sure, I love a steak house or something along those lines, too, but despite becoming employed in the past few months, it’s not like I’m rich or anything. Far from it,in fact.

Still, these types of joints are what really do it for me. A week ago, I was in Pittsburgh to attend the WWE Royal Rumble. With a friend who drives truck for WWE, I had the chance to score some sweet tickets.

I wasn’t driving all that way for one night, though. We extended it to two days and saw another show the night before (Ring of Honor) and also had the chance to find some good places to eat.

Build my own!

We arrived on Friday night at about 9:45 p.m. and wanted to find something close to the hotel. The day before, I had searched for some decent spots and I stumbled across Burgatory. The website looked awesome, so it was the perfect choice.

Stepping inside made me realize this might be the perfect burger joint.

The menu was excellent. The shakes, too, were incredible. I got the caramel pretzel shake (don’t knock if it you don’t try it) and it was positively delicious.

As for the meal…

The menu was hard to choose from as there were so many good things. Alas, I ended up not ordering from the menu, per say. There are pads and pencils at each table. On the pad is a checklist … to create your own burger.

Awesome.

This was cool because there were so many options. Of course many cost a little extra, but this was a time to live it up a tad. The funny part is my burger easily could have reached $25. Instead, I kept it under $20, which is good as I had a hard time finishing (I actually left a little behind).

What a shake!

This was a wonderful display in what you can do with a hamburger, though.

All the choices. I got applewood smoked bacon. Pineapple, grilled. And for the cheese? Smoked Gouda. Seriously. Smoked freakin’ Gouda! And it wasn’t just a little piece melted. It was a larger piece, all on the burger (wagyu beef) and you could see it’s awesomeness.

My only issue is the cook temp wasn’t fully consistent. It was much redder than I asked for in the middle and the ends were darker. That being said, it was a wonderful burger. The roll was divine.

The shake. The burger. And a great waitress. Those three things made this a wonderful stop and one I’d do again.

Especially with smoked Gouda on the burger!

This is part of We Work for Cheese’s annual writing challenge. Despite what might be blamed, I had nothing to do with it. Go check them out for other crazy writers doing this challenge.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Peanut butter Pop-Tarts? OMG! Do they deliver or flop?

October 4, 2013

I’m going out of the norm here.

How so, you may ask?

Allow me to go a little Internet/text/etc. on you for a moment.

Like, OMG.

Recently, I saw a commercial about some new Pop-Tarts. I’m not usually a fan of Pop-Tarts because they are crammed full of sugar and such and I try and limit it as best I can.

Peanut butter Pop-Tarts? Can they deliver?

But, OMG!

This commercial showed a new flavor — Gone Nutty Peanut Butter.

WTF? OMG!

OK, enough of the Internet stuff. But, seriously, holy crap. If you’ve been a reader of my blog, you know I love me some peanut butter. It’s something I believe should be in its own food group.

And now Pop-Tarts have peanut butter? Wow. Soon after, though, I forgot all about it. And then it happened.

I was strolling around the aisles of the local dollar store and there they were — sitting on the shelf. They stared back at me. “Buy me!” I couldn’t resist. Even at $2.25.

Letting them sit a day is something I needed to do, though. I had to stare at the package and understand what I was about to undertake.

I would even look past the nutritional information if need be. I mean, heck, what’s 200 calories for one pastry? After all, it’s only 60 calories from fat! And those 36 grams of total carbohydrates? No worries. Only 16 grams were sugar!

You see, there aren’t many things I don’t like with peanut butter. I look the other way if it’s good.

But…

Could this finally be the one that got me?

The next day, I slowly opened the box and pulled out one of the packages of Pop-Tarts. In gold wrapping, it was as if I was Charlie from Willy Wonka and I had just brought the box home to Grandpa Joe and it’s all excitement.

You can see the correlation here, right?

Anyhoo…

So the first one I placed in the toaster and heated it up. When I grabbed it there was so much excitement.

… and anticipation.

Blech.

A golden ticket? Not so much.

And just like that, I found something with peanut butter I just don’t like. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not awful. But I had a hard time getting through that first pop-tart. Later, I tried the other one in the package without toasting it — not much better.

There’s just something about a pop-tart pastry with some not-so-great peanut butter inside.

It’s a shame, too. I had really looked forward to this. But I think I finally found something that peanut butter doesn’t go with. That says something, too, as peanut butter pretty much is awesome with everything.

But, in the end, my body probably thanks my taste buds for not liking them too much. I’m sure pounding down boxes of these things couldn’t have been a healthy endeavor, so it’s only two more packages that I’ll have to choke down at some point.

Yes, I will finish them. After all, $2.25 is $2.25.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!