Afternoon in Ybor City

 

Steve took me to Ybor City for the first time in Tampa, and it was a lot of fun! It's a small area, so you only need a few hours to visit. We had a good time, even if it was a quicky trip.

Manatee Viewing Center

Since we were already heading up north, we visited Apollo Beach, where the Tampa Electric powerplant releases warm water into the bay, which attracts manatees. BUT we didn't see any; I think the natural water was already too warm, so they didn't need to congregate in this one place like they might during the winter. But we did see some birds and fish, and they have pretty gardens on site. I look forward to coming back next winter and seeing the manatees!

Tampa Bay Rum Company

Previously called the Gasparilla Distillery, we went to this place to try their spirits after I found a Groupon deal for tasting flights. You feel like you're on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney as soon as you walk in the door. It's dark, pirate-themed, and you think a skeleton is going to jump out at you at any moment. But once our eyes adjusted to the light, the bar is actually quite spacious. Our server, Sammy, was very friendly, and she poured some HEAVY tastes with our flight; each of us nearly had four full shots! We tried a variety of alcohols, from fun-flavored rums like coconut and key lime pie, to more serious aged rums. I think I liked the spiced rum best; you could definitely pick up on the clove and nutmeg spices, and it was me think of Christmas-time. The banana bread rum was our least favorite. While the idea is a good one (I love banana bread!), the banana flavor was a little too fake, and it also had a weirdly medicinal taste to it (think banana flavored cough syrup). So we weren't going to buy anything, but it was still a cool place to check out. 

Columbia

Columbia claims to be the oldest restaurant in Florida, since it was established in 1905. The restaurant is HUGE: it has several separate dining rooms and can hold 1,700 guests. No wonder there are four separate parking areas around for this one establishment! The tiles and murals decorating the building are beautiful, and the rooms inside are also spectacular. Even if you don't eat there, this is such an amazing piece of history! I actually think the experience of eating there was better than the actual food.

After lunch we walked around for a little bit for a few more highlights:

I may not have been impressed with lunch, but dessert was spot on!

This pretzel toffee ice cream is the perfect mix of salty and sweet.

There are chickens (with their babies!) everywhere! I looked it up, and Ybor City is actually a bird sanctuary, so the chickens and roosters are protected from being trapped or hunted. Their historical significance comes from immigrants in the 1800's bringing the animals with them as a food source, pets, and source of entertainment (cock fighting, anyone?). Just a fun quirk of the city!

We visited during the day, but Steve says the area really transforms at night with bars and clubs. Maybe we'll have to go back for dinner instead one time! But we WILL be back for sure!

Recipe: Hamantaschen from Jewish Food Society

Don't worry, the green doesn't mean they have gone bad! This was my first time making pistachio-filled hamantaschen. I used a pistachio paste I bought in Italy. Delicious!

I make hamantaschen every year for Purim ever since my grandma stopped making her own. Each year I use a different dough recipe; it seems I can never find the recipe from the previous year! This year I happened to get an email from the Jewish Food Society that included a recipe, so I thought I'd try it. 

Ingredients (for the dough)

• 4 large eggs
• 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup pulp-free orange juice
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour (up to ½ cup extra if dough is too wet to roll)
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

• Step 1

  Preheat the oven to 350°F.

• Step 2

  In a bowl of a stand mixer (or using hand-held beaters), whisk together the eggs, orange juice, oil, and vanilla until well combined. Add the sugar and mix until incorporated. 

• Step 3

  Gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, mixing until a dough forms. The dough should have a playdough-like consistency. If it's too wet, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time and mix until it becomes a stiff, workable dough.

• Step 4

  Divide the dough into two portions, shaping each into a flat disc.

• Step 5

  Place one portion on a sheet of parchment paper on the countertop. Using a rolling pin, roll it out into an even rectangle about ⅛-inch thick. Do the same for the other dough portion.

• Step 6

  Use a 3-inch round cutter or an inverted glass to cut dough circles. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the rounds on it about 2 inches apart to prevent them from touching during baking.

• Step 7

  Spoon about 2 teaspoons of your chosen filling(s) into the center of each round.

• Step 8

  Fold each circle into a triangular shape by pinching one point at the top, then pinching the two bottom corners together to seal. Ensure the edges are secure so they hold their shape while baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden.

• Step 9

  Let them cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one day or in the refrigerator for up to three days.

(Okay, let's start out by saying that Step 9 is ridiculous. The cookies will last MUCH longer than that, even if you don't refrigerate them!) I do like though that this recipe doesn't give you directions on how to make the filling. You are obviously just going to buy it! My friends brought several types of jelly, Nutella, and chocolate (and peanut butter) chips. We had quite the assortment!

(Jewish) Ladies of Umbria Place, unite!

Moving on... I did a few things differently, as usual. For one, I mixed all the dry ingredients together before adding them to the wet mixture. I feel like this is pretty basic baking procedure, so I'm not sure why this recipe doesn't write it out specifically. Also, I NEVER use a rolling pin. Mainly this is because I never had one until I was married, but I also think it's just as easy to take a ball of dough and flatter it with your hands. I did use the mouth of a glass to create perfect circles, but the other ladies in my group just made circle-ish shapes, and the cookies were fine, because who can tell once they are folded?

My group made the recipe three times so that we would have enough for everyone (note: twice would have been plenty!). The first two batches of dough hit a point in which they didn't want to absorb any more of the flour. But each time it was less than half a cup of the flour mixture left, so we just used that on our hands/rolling stations. So that was fine. The third dough mixture was different, and I don't know why. Was it because I used eggs from two different dozens? Did Janine not measure the baking powder accurately? Did I let the wet ingredients sit unmixed together for too long? I don't know, but this dough was much drier and wanted to absorb even less of the flour mixture; it was so dry you didn't even need to flour your hands. And the cookies from this batch did NOT hold their triangular shape. They ended up looking like open-faced hamantaschen (did I just invent something new?). Luckily they taste fine, but the way they look leaves something to be desired...

What a mess! Although I will say I don't usually use regular jams/jellies because this tends to happen.

Speaking of taste: this dough is very cake-like. It's almost like a store-bought sugar cookie! Very soft, not hard or crispy at all. I think they tasted good, but to me it's not traditionally what I expect from a hamantaschen. So I think it's interesting that the recipe calls them "classic," because to me this was very different than what I would typically think of. 

The poppyseed ones came out a little better, but still too flat to represent a hat.

So while not my finest work, we all still had a fun time making these cookies together! I never make hamantaschen alone because they are so time-consuming, and I'm so grateful I have already made such wonderful friends in my new neighborhood that I could continue my friendship baking tradition. Happy Purim, everyone!

Recipe: Dill Bread

My loaf was...very thin

I have been growing dill in an AeroGarden, and it has gone wild. It is so big! I attempted to make pickles (that did NOT work; I'm trying it a second time, so we'll see how they turn out), but I was trying to find other ways to use a lot of dill at once. I found this recipe on the Savory Moments blog, and since I've never made a savory bread before, I thought I would try it. 

The dill is on the left. Look how tall it is!

Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup olive (or vegetable) oil, plus more for greasing
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon dill pickle juice
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup finely chopped dill pickles
• 2 tablespoons (firmly packed) finely chopped fresh dill weed (or 1 tablespoon dried)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 8"x4" loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour through garlic powder.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil through sour cream. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
4. Fold in the pickles and dill weed until just combined. Spread the batter evenly into the loaf pan.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing and serving.

I didn't bother with the pickles or pickle juice, since I figured those were more for flavor, and I wanted more of a dill taste than pickle taste anyway. But I knew I was in trouble when the instructions said to spread the batter. My batter was so thick, and I couldn't "pour" it as I was expecting. So when I took it out of the oven, I wasn't surprised that it wasn't quite what I had expected. The bread didn't rise at all. The whole loaf was dense and thin. Can baking powder go bad? Was it the light sour cream that I used? I'm not sure where I went wrong.

Luckily, it still tastes pretty good. I like the savory flavor, and I almost think the recipe would be better if some cheese were melted into the batter. It's a little dry, but nothing a little butter or dip can't fix. It's still edible, so not a complete disaster! But I might need to try another dill bread recipe. Luckily, there are many to explore. 

Tootsie: The Film vs. the Musical

I knew of the movie Tootsie, and while I had never seen it, I understood the premise: Dustin Hoffman is an unemployed actor, but when he dresses as a woman, he is hired and must continue to charade. When I learned that a musical version of Tootsie was coming to the Manatee Performing Arts Center, I invited some friends to see the show with me. And just a few days later, I watched the movie on Amazon Prime so I could compare the two. Here's what I found:

Similarities:

• Lines: Some of the lines are verbatim. When the main character, Michael Dorsey, is auditioning for a role, he's told that he's too tall, too short, that they're looking for something different, that they're looking for someone else. That's the same in both! He also complains to his agent that there shouldn't be as much focus on California because "New York is a coast, too," and his agent is working on a show that "needs a name." The men argue about Dorsey being too obstinate to work with, highlighting a commercial in which he was supposed to play a sitting tomato, and he refused to sit because it wasn't logical for a vegetable to sit. So it was funny to see those definite parallels between the two media. And while not a verbal line, Julie does splash water in his face in both versions (we'll get to Julie later). 
• Sandy: In the play, Melanie Bierweiler is Dorsey's friend who is also an actor, but her nervous energy, low self-esteem, and emotional instability keep her from getting work. Teri Garr, also a pretty blonde, plays the same role in the movie, and both actresses play the role the same way. I liked that the musical was true to the original. (This song from the musical really sums up the character!)

• The set: With a play, the set is usually a backdrop with furniture to make the space come to life. I liked how in this musical, there were big photos blown up to be the background (although they weren't high res...), like outside of a restaurant, etc. And in Dorsey's apartment, the front door was to the left of the kitchen set-up which led into the living room, and that's just how the movie was, too (except of course the space can be bigger in the film). 

Differences:

• Careers: In the musical, Dorsey works at a restaurant with his friend to make money. While we do see one scene with him working in a restaurant in the film, we also see him teaching acting classes, which is not part of the play version. And in the movie Dorsey has gotten a role on a soap opera, while in the musical he's acting in a stage performance.
• Love interests: While Dorsey is in love with Julie in both versions (played by Paige Alter in the musical and Jessica Lange in the film), in the movie she is willingly in a relationship with the director Ron Carlisle (Daniel Pelissier in the play (so good!) and Dabney Coleman in the movie (I guess he was typecast from 9 to 5)), but in the musical she is always pushing away his advances.
• Julie's family: Speaking of Julie, in the film she has a 14-month-old daughter, and she and Dorsey (while he's pretending to be Dorothy Michaels, his female alter-ego) visit her father in upstate New York; her father falls for Dorothy and even asks her (him?) to marry him! But her family never makes an appearance in the musical. 
• Divulging the secret: In the movie, Dorsey tells his agent right away that he has gotten a job as a woman, but in the play, his agent doesn't find out until he comes over to Dorsey's house unannounced. (By the way, Craig Engle, who plays the agent in the play, was the only actor who seemed to forget this lines. Too bad!) 
• Van Horn: In both versions, there is another actor, Van Dorn (George Gaynes in the film, Anthony Hoskins in the musical) who has a crush on Dorothy. But they are played so differently! Gaynes is an older man who needs cue cards to remember his lines, while Hoskins is a much younger man who talks like a Valley girl and goes so far as to get Dorothy's face tattooed on his stomach! I think I like the musical's casting of this character better; he's even more absurd!

Just a side note: I didn't know other well-known actors like Bill Murray and Geena Davis were in the movie! 

I liked both! You can rent and stream the film on several platforms (Amazon, Apple TV, etc.), and you can still see the musical in Bradenton! Get your tickets here.

Recipe: Peppermint No-Bake Cheesecake

 

I saw a similar recipe on Instagram and was inspired to make it for the holidays. I ended up finding this recipe on the Cincy Shopper blog, and since we had (most of) the ingredients, my mom and I went with this one.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 22 Oreo Cookies
• 3 tbsp melted Butter
• 1 tbsp Sugar

Filling:

• 16 oz softened Cream Cheese
• 16 oz Heavy Cream
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Peppermint Extract
• 6 drops Pink Food Coloring

Directions

1. Crush Oreos in food processor and add melted butter and sugar.
2. Press mixture into bottom and partway up sides of springform pan.
3. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to firm.
4. Beat cream cheese and sugar until well mixed. Set aside.
5. Whip heavy cream and powder sugar until stiff peaks form.
6. Fold and blend cream cheese mixture into whipped cream mixture.
7. Add food coloring and peppermint into filling mixture.
8. Pour/spread into pan.
9. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until firm.
10. You can garnish with dollops of whipped topping and crushed peppermints if desired.

My mom made the crust while I was out, and since she didn't have the recipe in front of her, she just put crushed up Oreos in the bottom of a pie plate without any butter. This meant that when we served the dessert, even after being in the freezer for a while, the bottom crust just stayed in the glass; it didn't stick to the filling or vice versa. BUT it still tasted good!

Instead of mint extract we used creme de menthe liqueur (and used more of it since the flavor isn't as concentrated as an extract would be), and we didn't bother with the food coloring. We also included some of the cream from mint Oreos, since my mom had chopped up the cookie part already! This along with the minty liquor gave the cake a pale green color. We did put crushed peppermints on top for a little festive look.

I was making this for a get-together, and I didn't have four hours to let it cool in the refrigerator. So instead I popped it in the freezer for half the time, and that worked! This cheesecake is delicious, and I would definitely make it again. But instead of step #5, I would just use Cool Whip. That way you don't have to clear your mixing bowl for two different steps!