Decadence Tiramisu Cheesecake

Not being a very big fan of coffee in desserts, I was somewhat dubious of this little cheesecake, but was intrigued as to how the idea and taste of savoiardi would be translated into a cheesecake.

For starters, it was fluffier than the other cheesecakes had been, had a much lighter texture due to the content of the mascarpone, which I loved, and definitely tasted more buttery than any of the others, as well. The coffee taste was really subtle, actually, and I barely tasted it. Even as a non-coffee lover, I would have preferred a little more coffee in the batter.

There was no element of Kahlua, which I enjoyed, as alcohol is not preferable in desserts, either. The crust was quite good, but with the fluffiness of the cheesecake and buttery flavor, I'm not sure how I felt about the slivers of pecans, which worked well in the German Chocolate but didn't quite translate here. Still, a tasty dessert, and preferable alternative to actual tiramisu when it's not available.

6/10- GOOD

Decadence German Chocolate Cheesecake (in a jar)

I was sent a six-pack of cheesecakes, unusual cheesecakes at that, by Decadence Cheesecakes, based out of Colorado. These are miniature, single-serving cheesecakes and they're stored in a jar. It's like pudding cups meeting cheesecake. All desserts should really be like this. You can get all sorts of flavors and there's the perfect portion, so you're not reaching for two or three slices!

This particular cheesecake is a German Chocolate flavor, and if you all watch Throwdown on the Food network, you know that German Chocolate isn't actually German, but the surname of the man who invented it. Fun fact. Anyhow, onto the cheesecake. The first thing you notice is the layer of coconut-pecan frosting on top, more of a glaze than anything else. I was surprised to find very little pecans in the glaze, but the coconut flavor was rather sublime, when tasted alone. The cheesecake part is a chocolate cheesecake, and it's delicious but tends to engulf the nutty and coconut flavor subtleties.

The crust is lovely, also chocolate, which again, tends to get overwhelmed and blend together with the chocolate, but there are wonderful slivers of pecans floating around in there, and those are just phenomenal. Overall, this is an excellent, gourmet dessert with the added bonus of being available any time one should crave cheesecake, like I did, at 10:45 at night.

8/10- AWESOME

Stride Uber Bubble

I am a big fan of blowing bubbles with gum. I try not to chew gum at work because the temptation of blowing bubbles is too great. I think it makes me look childish and it gets gum on my glasses.

It doesn't necessarily have to be bubble gum, and in fact, I prefer other flavors. One of my favorite gums for blowing bubbles was Dentine Ice vanilla. Still, bubble gum is a nostalgic flavor, and every now and then it's nice to have.


It smelled like bubble gum, and with the first could chews, there was a sour bubble gum flavor. It was a little fruity, a lot of sweet, and had a bouncy chew. My husband called it a more refined bubble gum flavor. Most of the tang was gone after a few minutes, and the remaining flavor was more typical bubble gum.

Unfortunately, the bubble gum didn't actually work well for blowing bubbles. Although the nostalgic flavor was tasty, bubble gum without the bubble seems a little pointless to me. At least it was a good bubble gum flavor. I guess that's what "Uber Bubble" means.

B-

Stride Gum Website

Paddywackle's Gourmet Brittle Co.

I've had some pretty bad experiences with peanut brittle, all of them involving some sort of impaling or horrible rendering of my face. I've been stabbed quite a few times by an errant shard of brittle. It's the Captain Crunch of the candy world. But I'm an intrepid girl, and I like to try new things, so I gave this peanut brittle a whirl, and it changed my mind completely.

The first brittle that I tried was a chocolate almond brittle. It had an amazing crunch, starting off soft and then crumbling, very crispy and light texture. The chocolate tasted like a lovely wafer cookie, and the almonds added a lot to the texture. It was really delicious and the chewing kept it all very moist, so as not to make it try and tacky in one's mouth.

8/10- YUMMY

The second brittle was a little stickier and was absolutely permeated with peanut butter, and many chunks of peanuts! It stuck to my teeth but had a wonderful buttery undertone and a fresh, roasted peanut taste. What I really liked about these was the texture, they were just pristine and perfectly chewy without completely shattering in my mouth or dissolving into nothing. It was a substantial and delicious snack.

8/10- LOVELY

To buy their brittle, just go to www.paddywhackles.etsy.com.

More Café con Chocolate Love

I've already expressed my love for Café con Chocolate, the sunny-hued corner restaurant in South Philly serving up reasonably priced, vegetarian-friendly Mexican and Japanese food, in a write up from almost a year ago. Then I named Café con Chocolate's mole sauce in one of my yearly roundups as the "Best Thing From A Restaurant That I Put In My Mouth." And, a few weeks ago, when the Food Blogger's Brunch panel I sat on was asked what memorable food item from a Philly restaurant they recently ate, I chimed in with Café con Chocolate's mole sauce. So, yeah, I like Café con Chocolate.

Above is a picture of the awesomely delicious and huge vegetarian torta, a Mexican sandwich stuffed with spicy scrambled tofu, mushrooms, cheese, onions, avocado, beans, lettuce, and tomato. I ate half, and, too full to finish it all, had the other half boxed up to go.That bittersweet (but not too bitter) mole sauce I like so much can be ordered as a side from the menu. Thinking I'd receive a little ramekin of mole when I asked for a side, I had to pop my eyes back into my head cartoon-style when a large soup bowl of mole arrived. But, for $4, I guess a side of mole should be generous. This was also wrapped up to go and got me through many happy meals at home.
Cheese and scrambled egg enchiladas with mole, crema, queso fresco, and a side of corn-studded rice are damn good...and more food than you should really eat for breakfast.

Café con Chocolate
2100 S. Norwood St., Philadelphia, PA, 19145
267-639-4506
Thurs-Sat: 10 am - 8 pm
Sun: 10 am - 3 pm
Mon-Wed: closed
BYOB

Kabaya Matcha Pakiri

Normally, I don't go for Pocky or Pocky-clone snacks, but the lure of matcha made me buy these. Unfortunately, they were a little melted (as I suspect they were shipped during summer to the store from which I bought them), but I don't think the taste was affected.

Kabaya is a big snack company, but this snack is definitely a Pocky-clone. According to the package, these are extra crunchy sticks, and should make a "snap" noise when eaten (paki, in Japanese onomatopoeia).


The scent of matcha was very strong when I opened the package, which is always a good sign for me. The flavor of the matcha white chocolate coating was also strong, just how I like it. However, they were not kidding about these being crunchy.

The stick part was very hard, crunchy, and a little tough on my teeth. It also had a distinctly salty flavor that I didn't love, but didn't hate. The saltiness was especially apparent in the aftertaste. So, even though I loved the matcha flavor, the stick wasn't to my liking.

I should mention that I wrote those notes about the crunchiness the day I opened the package. After a day or two of being opened, the sticks seemed a little softer and I liked the Pakiri better. However, if you like crunchy snacks, eat these right away.

B-

Kabaya website

Amanouz Cafe, Northampton, MA

So it's nine in the morning. I'm on a bus, it's pouring outside, and suddenly, I have an epiphany. I haven't eaten yet, but I only want one thing for breakfast. One thing that I've been told is a little hard to find here, and that thing is...falafel.

Where I come from, a small town located outside of New Haven, Connecticut, the most amazing falafel resides at Mamoun's Falafel, and at any number of equally delicious restaurants. So I'm used to falafel availability, and when I was told that there really weren't any places, I was grief-stricken.

I'm craving a falafel, wandering the streets, killing time before a group meeting, and then, I see it. Rather, I hear it before I see it. Beautiful, upbeat music, when all the world is quiet, emanating from the tiniest cafe. And there it is. Amanouz.

It's small, it's filled to the brim with little things and cute curios. And it's got falafel on the menu. It's 9 AM, but I ask anyway. The friendly waitress consults with the big bosses. And finally, they nod.

I just walked in and demanded falafel. And I'm getting it.

So I sit down, and I'm presented with many, many drink selections, alcohol included. I was nervous about this meeting and was highly considering it, but was swayed by the lack of Riesling on the menu, and instead decided to eschew my inner boozehound for some Turkish coffee, inspiring memories of my time in Edinburgh.

Holy crap. I'm sitting in a restaurant in the morning, listening to great music with the offering of booze, and eating my favorite food. If I choke to death, I'll be so, so happy.


Luckily, I did not. I was brought out the coffee, first, in a lovely little decanter-like pitcher with the quintessential demitasse It's damned strong, and I drink it black because there's no need to gussy up Turkish coffee. Without a doubt, this was the most complex, flavorful, and intense coffee I had with little to no bitterness. It was warm, woodsy, dark, and flavored with what I thought were undertones of cardamom, and the little sludge at the bottom. I'm not pretentious, I swear. This coffee was just incredible.


8/10- SWEET JESUS, YES.

Of course, my main prerogative was this damned falafel, and was it ever amazing. It arrived, wrapped like a baby, in tin foil on a plate. From the appearance alone, it was obvious that this was a homemade pita. So I bit into it, and my mouth exploded, in a word.

It was sheer joy, wrapped in a hot pita. I'm stretching like a gymnast for complaints, but the falafels are somewhat unwieldy, and the pita to falafel to sauce, hummus and tahini, both homemade, ratio, is not as good as I'd like, preferring it all to be even. But the falafel. Mama, these were something else. First of all, they're bright green when you bite into them. Parsley. And hot, and flavorful, and crispy. Not a single part of these is mushy, dry, like some that I've had, or bland. It's moist and delicious. The ultimate breakfast.


The sauces were great, again, could have been more appropriately partitioned, but do you see how hard I'm looking for flaws? It was amazing. I want it again, now. And you can see what I thought of it.


9/10- SPECTACULAR

And then, dessert.


That's baklavah, ladies and gentleman. I might not have bought it if not for the $10 credit card minimum, which, by the way, was the total of this lovely breakfast. This is a walnut baklavah, and it is wonderful. It is so layered, and also stands up to the ultimate of all trials- the standardized FPT, the Foodette Pocket Test. I wanted to eat this as a little treat later on in the day, so I shoved it in my pocket, wrapped, of course, and forgot about it until I sat on my jacket later and crumpled it in my backpack, and when I went to eat it, I figured it would be a sticky mess and that I'd end up leaving half of it on the tin foil and throwing it out. But no! It stood up, and it was crunchy, delicious, and a complete mystery. How can something so saturated with honey, butter, and nuts still maintain texture and not turn into goo?

9/10- AMAZING

Amanouz Cafe
44 Main Street
Northampton, MA, 01060