twiddlerecipe: stuffed french toast

My friend Chris is visiting this week to meet Ramona and to work with me on a project that he'll be presenting at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.  I'm more than a little bit jealous about that.  Chris also likes to cook, so we've actually put my kitchen to its intended use again, as opposed to the baby washing station that it's become.

images from my past fade into the background (i.e., the kitchen aid stand mixer)

Last night we made strawberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast, using uncut bakery burger buns as the bread.  I didn't really note the exact amounts or the time, but the method is pretty simple.

strawberry stuffed french toast

butter

~8oz strawberries, washed, hulled, and thinly sliced

~1/4 c sugar give or take to taste, depending on your strawberries

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

~1 t vanilla extract

4 uncut bakery burger buns

3 eggs

1 c cream

~1/2 cinnamon

~1 t vanilla extract

~2 t honey

Combine the strawberries and sugar and allow to macerate.  Pulse together the macerated strawberries, cream cheese, and vanilla extract until mostly combined.  It's nice to not completely pulverize the berries, so that there's a bit of texture.

Cut holes into the burger buns, such that a pocket forms.  Stuff the buns with the mixture.  The pockets shouldn't be overflowing, but just filled.

In a large, shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and honey.  Soak each of the stuffed buns in the mixture.  Cook in butter on all sides, rotating the buns so that all six sides are done (so you're not eating raw eggs) and golden brown.

hi again

This is a picture from a really terrible meal that we had last week.  It's actually a plate from a Mother's Day brunch buffet from a restaurant that we've eaten at twice before.  The first time we went was actually for Restaurant Week and it was really good.  I was sooo disappointed, in part, because I wanted to love it and then blog about it.  Unfortunately, the meal wasn't good so I don't really have anything to say and I'd rather not take a giant crap on a restaurant that I think is probably better than what they served up here.  It'll probably be awhile before we go back, but it's never going to close because, even though it's basically empty every time we've been there, it's part of a hotel.

but at least I'm a cute money pit

So herein lies the problem.  I have nothing to write about.  It's not that I don't eat.  I do, every day, in fact. It's just that recipe creation has been tough and given that we now have a giant money pit, we've been trying to scale back the restaurant eating.  We've been going with tried and true recipes.  The one time I tried making something new, it took forever and I felt like I was neglecting Ramona (she fell asleep in her swing almost immediately so it seems like mommy guilt is a natural progression from Catholic guilt) thus, we've stuck with quick cooking meals since then.  So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm here and I'm eating and I just needed to write something so I could remember what it felt like to write a blog post.

24 Diner

24 Diner is by and far one of my favorite places in Austin.  The food is great and the atmosphere is fun.  I always take out of town friends here whenever they visit and even ate Thanksgiving dinner there last year.   I've tried almost everything on the menu and I have too many favorites to count, but my must haves include the (brisket) chili cheese fries, their patty melt (with a fried egg on top), and the applewood bacon and cheddar fritatta.  Colby likes the chicken and waffles and if I keep going, I'm basically just going to list the menu.  I'm sort of surprised that it's taken me this long to write about it, but I finally brought the camera along with us.

So what I'm saying is I'm really craving some chili cheese fries right now.  I'm sort of tempted to make a run downtown to get some, but that would require, unfortunately, pants.

chili cheese fries - $8.95

patty melt w/fried egg and macaroni and cheese - $12.90