loose ends

​I don’t like loose ends; so today I’m going to bring you up to date with my dining and baking adventures.
 
I promised our oldest granddaughter that when she turned 7, I’d take her to see “Wicked” on Broadway. It seems like that promise was so long ago, that I forgot. But she turned 7 in August and  I kept my promise and bought tickets for myself, daughter and granddaughter to attend a Saturday matinee performance. I had seen the show about 10 years ago; although I recall most of the show, there were some things I had forgotten.
 
The Saturday we went in was fortunately not as hot as it had been in August. We took the train in from Metropark to Penn Station. We had lunch before the theatre at Bar Primi. I follow food and travel journalist @thisgirlcaneat on Instagram and she had posted her visit to Bar Primi that was very close to Penn Station. They do not have a kid’s menu, but my granddaughters have sophisticated palates, how many kids do you know eat duck poutine? 

​Since the weather was divine and the patio shaded we ate al fresco. Both my daughter and I had the Monday Mule which contained zero alcohol “tequila,” blood orange and ginger. it was refreshing. My granddaughter had Fusilli Giganti (basil pesto, stracciatella), my daughter had Frittata Caprese (overnight tomato, mozzarella DOP, basil) and I had Fried Egg Amatriciana (heirloom polenta, toasted focaccia). The entrees were a nice size portion, hot and delicious. As we were celebrating my granddaughter’s birthday, she selected the Strawberry Fantasia for dessert. It was a layered dessert beginning with vanilla panna cotta, fresh strawberries, cookie crumble and topped with strawberry gelato, it was both pretty and scrumptious. Needless to say, the three of us devoured it.
 
Following the Labor Day holiday, my husband and I were off to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the wedding of the son of his longtime college friend. On the way to our hotel, we decided to visit the retail store of Jean Stoffer Design. We discovered Mrs. Stoffer by way of Magnolia Network and her show “The Established Home.” My husband and I really like her design esthetics. We toured her shop, did a little retail therapy and had a coffee refreshment in the adjacent Bradbury Cafe, also owned by Stoffer.
 
For dinner Friday night, we were joined by another college friend of my husband at The Paisley Pig Gastropub. The restaurant was very busy, but we had a reservation. Two of us ordered The Paisley Pig (pulled pork, root beer BBQ, chipotle slaw on a sesame seed bun). The pork was moist, tender and satisfying. My husband had the turkey sandwich layered with turkey and Michigan bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, Michigan cherry aioli on toasted sprouted honey wheat bread.
 
On Saturday morning, we took a stroll on the waterfront in Grand Haven. We popped into Great Harvest Bakery and Cafe for a cup of coffee and a sweet treat. We had a berry scone and cinnamon roll. The cinnamon roll was the size of saucer and slathered with the most delicious cream cheese frosting…heavenly, not too sweet.
 
For my grandchildren’s birthdays, I’ve been making cutout sugar cookies. I use Smitten Kitchen’s Unfussy Sugar Cookies and royal icing recipes.
 
Recently, I decided to try the royal icing recipe by the cookie artist, Dani B. Fiori, owner of Sweet Dani B. She has a cookie shop in Asbury Park which also offers cookie classes.
 
I watched the YouTube video on how to prepare Dani’s royal icing. It’s made with meringue powder, cold water and confectioners’ sugar. When mixing royal icing for cookie decorating, it’s very important to have the right viscosity. For decorating sugar cookies, it’s best to use a squeeze bottle in which to outline your design and then fill in. A small offset spatula works best to spread the icing within the outline.
 
I recently took Dani’s “Last Toast of the Coast” decorating class at her studio. The class provides the cookies, detailed instructions and demonstrations by Dani, who shares her techniques to produce beautiful cookies. I noticed that all her cookies where uniform in thickness, something I hadn’t done with mine at home. Dani’s cookies were 1/4-inches thick. In her studio they use rolling pin rings to achieve uniform thickness. This is something I wasn’t using, but will do going forward. I had an enjoyable time at the class, picked up some techniques and made beautiful cookies. My granddaughters were impressed. The cookies by the way, were tasty and the icing not too sweet.