Seafoam

Seafoam Boehm's Chocolates  Isn't science wonderful?  The same volcanic combination of vinegar and baking soda that I rely on to de-gunk my drains gives seafoam candy its distinctive honeycomb texture.  Molasses adds a rich depth to the flavor and a dark chocolate coating seals in the foamy freshness so each bite is crisp and crunchy.   Boehm's Chocolates 255 NE Gilman Blvd, Issaquah, WA 98027425 / 392-6...

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Rabarbergrød

Rabarbergrød For those of us who grew up in the US on desserts made by mixing boxes of powder with hot water, the categories were simple:  jello was jello and pudding was pudding.  Many favorite Danish desserts, however, blur that line, combining bright fruit flavors and a silky pudding texture.   Rød grød med fløde or "red porridge with cream" is a classic summer dessert that calls for the ripe bounty of the season: strawberries,...

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Coconut Kokis

Coconut Kokis Tropicland, $2.95/box In conversation I described these little Malaysian cookies at "crumb-y" and then had to clarify that the b was silent, not missing. The term kokis appears to apply to a fairly broad range of cookies, cakes, and breads; these particular ones are mildly sweet compressed nuggets of toasted coconut and bread crumbs.  I imagine you could get something similar by dumping the detritus at the bottom of a cereal...

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Anti-Griddle-Sicles

Anti-Griddle-Sicles  Rent, gas, parking, clothing, takeout meals...When a clear-eyed look at their finances showed high-flying New Yorkers Wendy Jehanara Tremayne and Mikey Sklar their daily expenses meant they were literally working to work, they opted out.  They quit their jobs, moved to New Mexico, and transformed their lives into an ongoing experiment in modern self-reliance.  Tremayne's The Good Life Lab documents...

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Cheerwine

Cheerwine For many American entrepreneurs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the bubbling sludge of their money-making dreams was soda syrup, not Texas crude.  Since sodas started out as a way of administering tonics and medicines, pharmacists were responsible for many of the field's early successes (including Hires root beer in 1876 and Coca-Cola in 1886), but fizzy drinks soon transitioned away from their...

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Charlton's Coffeehouse

Drinking Chocolate R. Charlton's Coffeehouse Since just a whiff of Swiss Miss can send me back to snowy afternoons in the 1970s, I wasn't all that surprised to find that among the many more-or-less historical flavors available in Colonial Williamsburg's pubs, restaurants, and kiosks, there is a time machine disguised as hot chocolate.   The building that houses R. Charlton's became a coffeehouse soon after it was constructed...

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Pink Radio Cake

Pink Radio Cake Fido, $4.25 A beet bonanza several years ago led Fido's pastry chef to experiment with using beet puree to add subtle flavor and not-so-subtle color to the coffeeshop's standard cake recipe.  The resulting "pink radio cake" is sort of a dialed-down red velvet:  cake moistened with buttermilk, oil, and vinegar and held together with cream cheese icing the color of a Barbie birthday party.   Judging from other pictures...

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Colt's Bolts

Colt's Bolts Nashville Airport, $1.99 On the one hand, a Colt's Bolt is a dressed-up Reese's Peanut Butter Cup; on the other, it's a country song wrapped in foil.   On the label of each confection is a 1980's glamor shot of blonde in a red power suit, company owner Mackenzie Colt.  A teenage wife and mother with talent and ambition, Colt was a regular at open mic nights at the Ramada Inn lounge near her St. Louis...

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Mom's European Food & Deli

Russian Mini Chocolate Bars Mom's European Food & Deli, $6.99/lb Soap Lake is a tiny town in central Washington built around a lake long famed for the healing properties of its foamy waters and slimy mud.  Modern environmental factors have put a dent in those powers--and in the number of tourists visiting the town's spas and resorts.  From the car I saw two going-out-of-business sales, several vacant storefronts,...

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Royal Bakery

Green Tea Cake (top) Green bean bread (bottom) Royal Bakery Although the front window features a wizened monstrosity that might just be Miss Havisham's wedding cake, the rest of Royal Bakery's glass cases are filled with fresh and attractive Korean-style breads, tarts, and cakes.  The green tea cake is a delicate sandwich of sponge and whipped-cream frosting with a mild but appreciable bitterness--ideal (green)...

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New York Suggestions?

I'm heading to New York tomorrow--first, to teach a weekend jewelry workshop at the 92nd St Y, and then to eat myself silly for the following week. My agenda currently includes: Payard The Hungarian Pastry Shop Rice to Riches Minamoto Kitchoan Bespoke Chocolate Babycakes Momofuku Vesuvio Mitsuwa Jacques Torres The Doughnut Plant Any other suggestions? The more obscure, the better, and I'm quite willing to travel to anywhere worth trying!...

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Buñuelos

Buñuelos de Miel Guanaco's Tacos, $4 If Guanaco's excellent pupusas and tacos leave your stomach with room to spare, then the buñuelos de miel will do their best to satisfy.  These pillowy balls of golden-fried yuca dough have a pleasing texture but little flavor of their own, so they're drenched in miel de panela, a syrup made from cane juice that's been evaporated and re-liquified; it's as sticky...

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Sweet Laurette's

Black Bottom Cupcakes Sweet Laurette's, $3.50 Word has it there are no bad choices to be made at Sweet Laurette's, a bakery, cafe, and bistro located a short (uphill) walk from downtown Port Townsend. It was enthusiastically recommended to me by a local grandmother who takes her granddaughter for breakfast every week. The French-inflected bakery offers coffee by the bowl and indulgent treats such as "Oblivion...

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On Common Grounds

Vanilla "Wedding" CakeOn Common Grounds, $4.50/slice I recently read something that surprised me: serving for serving, vanilla cake generally contains far more sugar than chocolate cake. I decided to take a scientific approach to my doubts, ordering a slice of vanilla "wedding" cake at On Common Grounds, a cheerful bakery and cafe just off the road that most travelers take between Port Townsend and the Hood Canal Bridge. The cake...

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Elevated Ice Cream

Elevated Ice Cream 62¢/oz. Established in 1977, the Elevated Ice Cream parlor on Port Townsend's main drag is a long-standing local institution that became a "destination parlor" more recently, when the Travel Channel voted it one of the best in the country. Elevated's ice creams are made on the premises at least twice a week, using a base mixture manufactured to their specifications in Snoqualmie. Elevated products aren't...

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La Boulangerie

Tarte Normande La Boulangerie, $4.50The need for carbohydrate comfort first steered me into La Boulangerie several years ago, when a movie I was desperate to see at the theater across the street sold out just as I got to the ticket window. Fast forward to now and I can't remember the name of the movie, but I can recall every bite of my consolation treat, a meltingly tender and spicy baked apple encased in a buttery croissant--a chausson au...

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ChikaLicious

Grapefruit Brulée ChikaLicious, $12 for 3 courses Just like eating breakfast for dinner or walking a cat on a leash, a dessert-only restaurant is a delightful perversion of the natural order. At the ChikaLicious Dessert Bar, there's no need to save room for dessert, because dessert is all you're getting. A $12 prix fixe "meal" includes an amuse-bouche, main course, and a plate of assorted petit-fours. Another $7 buys either...

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Bespoke Chocolates

Southampton Tea Truffle Bespoke Chocolates, $2.25 Extra Place doesn't exactly welcome visitors, particularly in the gathering dusk of a late winter evening. It's a stunted alleyway just off the Bowery, too small to appear on most maps, wallpapered with graffiti, and, on the occasion of my visit, bedecked with police tape. That it's not the kind of place where you'd expect to find an artisanal chocolate shop makes stepping out of...

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The Doughnut Plant

Les Tres Leches Doughnut The Doughnut Plant, $2.25While the Doughnut Plant's website is full of streamlined graphics and elegant animation, by far the most moving feature is a slideshow of owner Mark Isreal's family photos, ending with a heartfelt thanks to his supportive loved ones. Several black-and-white snapshots feature his grandfather, a commercial baker who died with Isreal was only a toddler but left behind a valuable legacy...

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