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Did you know Starbucks sells instant coffee?  I didn’t either, not until I visited Seattle at least.  It’s a relatively new product only available in Seattle, Chicago and London (you can also order online here).

Being from NY, the concept did not make sense to me.  Why would I use instant coffee, there is a coffee place (most likely Starbucks) open right across the street!  Then I read the back of the package…”It took more than 35 years, but we’ve created a way to bring you the bold taste of Starbucks coffee in any cup.”  Ohhh!!!!!!  I get it!  They’re just trying to make sure I never drink any coffee besides Starbucks ever again!  Case Closed.

Ok, Ok, back to the review.  The package comes with three individual servings of instant coffee.  So if you’re away from home, you can bring them with you to have coffee on demand (provided there is hot water, milk and sugar around).  I did notice a big difference between traditional instant coffee (top) and the starbucks (bottom).  The granules themselves are MUCH smaller, a factor Starbucks claims comes from their top-secret process for making the instant coffee taste better.

If you watch the videos Starbucks has online (especially the London one), people keep saying the coffee is smooth. I suppose they’re right.  I would say this cup of coffee reminds me of one of those Keurig or Flavia machines.  The coffee is better Folgers and almost satifsying.  It just isn’t strong enough for a serious coffee drinker.

My biggest peeve is that the directions tell you to add 8 fl oz of hot water to the packet.  The smallest coffee at Starbucks is 12 fl oz and I constantly see people ordering the larger sizes.  Therefore, one would need at least two of these instants in the morning to fill their normal brew size.  Since the packets aren’t strong enough to replace the traditional cup, you might as well throw in the last packet that comes in the $2.95 package.  Wow.  My hat is off to you Starbucks, you’ve figured out how to get people to spend even more money on coffee…Genius.

Stop Number 1

Mooo….

No really, that’s the name of the restaurant (kinda awesome, huh?).  As an early birthday celebration, I got to experience some fantastic high-class steak in an uber-swank location.  I’ll cut right to the chase on this one, we only ordered 1 course…steak.  No appetizers, no dessert (I know, I know, I’m just as shocked as you are, after all this was my birthday dinner). To be honest, the one course was almost too much, almost.

So the steak… 8 oz. Fllet Mignon, which was the smallest one offered on the menu, with a wine sauce…medium-rare.  I debated going rare but MR was perfect, melt-in-your-mouth perfection.  It didn’t even need the wine sauce, but that just made it all the more delicious.  My partner in crime also ordered the filet mignon, albeit the more aggressive 12 oz. portion.

For sides, we ordered the “Mooo Side Flight,” which consisted of  yukon gold mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, truffled Parmesan fries and a mushroom medley.  Here is my advice on this one: don’t get it.  Instead, just get the truffled fries and mushrooms.  The fries were amazing and the mushrooms were a nice delicate balance.  I’m not a huge fan of creamed spinach to begin with, but this wasn’t even good.  I took one bite and decided my stomach capacity should be saved for other things.  The potatoes were just potatoes, nothing fancy..again, not worth it.

At the end of the meal, I was very happy, beyond full and then realized I just ate half a pound of steak.  Gluttony at it’s best.

And now for something completely different….

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The Clover Food Truck

A relatively recent addition to the famed food trucks on the MIT campus, my friend Emily introduced me the day after my steak excursion.  Not your typical street-meat cart, this place serves vegetarian, local and when possible, organic food.

Started by MIT grad Ayr Muir, the food truck brings easily accessible healthy food to the the Kendall community.  I’m just bummed I didn’t find out about this place until after the semester was over!  Hopefully it will be back next year.

While more expensive than the competing food trucks, Clover delivers warm meals with uber-fresh ingredients.  For lunch I had a Tofu BLT, cucumber and tomato salad and an unsweetened iced tea (my favorite summertime beverage) all for only $9.  The only catch is food runs out quickly, so you have to get there early for the full selection.  You can also follow them on Twitter for updates.

I also recommend reading these articles on the Clover Food Truck and Ayr’s food concepts in

The Boston Globe and

MIT News

Ok…perhaps that title is a bit of an overstatment.  I don’t want to get everyone too excited, but a better name might be, “Mediocre Cookie Experiment” or even just “Cookie Experiment.”  The reason for the experiment?  I felt like baking.  The experimental part was the fact a good portion of my cooking equipment has been packed (I’m moving in two weeks).  It was interesting, but I did manage to find my cookie pan in a box before proceeding.

The other part of the experiment…I’m running low on some ingredients (please see above re: moving).  I had to move around some proportions of the recipe and I also (gasp!) didn’t measure a bunch of things either (which in hindsight might have not been the best idea).  The recipe was Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, from Martha Stewart.  Ok, they’re actually from Sisha Ortuzar, co-owner and executive chef of ‘wichcraft, a great sandwich (get it?) place that I used to visit in NY.  The only major edit I made to the recipe was for the filling.  I added some cocoa powder to the mix to try and add some chocolate flavor.

The end result?  They’re gorgeous.  They remind me of heartier version of French macaroons.  Taste wise, I actually thought they were a bit too rich initially.  However, they taste much better the next day, so I recommend making them ahead of time.   My classmates liked them a lot (but of course they could just be too nice to tell me the truth).

Although, taking another look at them makes me think they look like tiny hamburgers…

Note: This post is not for the faint of heart.

There has been a lot of talk (some might call it hype) about Hungry Mother in Cambridge.  It was ranked #7 in Boston Magazine’s Best Restaurants Issue.  It has an impressive 4.5 stars (out of 5) on Yelp and a ranking of 92 (out of 100) on The Phantom Gourmet.  Well I am here to tell you, it is well deserved.  Go make your reservations now because you’ll need them and by the time you finish this post you’ll be wishing you were there now.

We arrived for our dinner and were promptly seated on time.  After a quick perusal of the menu (that’s all you need, it’s not a huge menu), we ordered our drinks and food in one shot.  The appetizers included fried oysters, squid and cornbread.  Now it was difficult to get my head wrapped about the oysters.  I always get them raw with horseradish and cocktail sauce and throw them back like candy.  Well, I’m a convert.  They were delicious.  Warm and crunchy without being overcooked and the remoulade was the perfect amount of tang to counter the Tabasco sauce drizzled on top.  The cornbread was good (pretty standard to be honest).  The squid was also delicious, not chewy and the accompaniments made the plate in my opinion.

Then there was the beer.  My friends had ordered a beer recommended by the waitress.  They loved it.  So she recommended two of their bottles (they’re 22oz each, so we split them). Well, I would like everyone to know, the Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project is going to blow up and take over the craft beer scene.  One sip of the Jack D’Or and I was sold.  Two sips and it might have taken over the #1 favorite beer spot.  Our friend who doesn’t even drink beer liked it.  We were so impressed my friends took the bottles home with them (which apparently according to one of the owners is a fairly frequent occurrence).

Ok…back to the food.  For dinner I ordered the Cornmeal Catfish, which came with andouille sausage and rice (which was clearly cooked in the wonderful wonderful sausage grease).  It was perfect.  The fried crust of the catfish was the right about of crunch, I can still taste it in my mouth.  We also got the collard greens side (nothing exciting) and the grits.  I love grits, and these were no exception.  Grits with ham and cheddar raised the bar.  Although the real winner of this meal was the chicken.  I know, I know.  Chicken?  I have no idea how it was cooked or with what, but I wish I could replicate it.  The inside was juicy and the roasted skin was one of the best things I’ve ever tried.  Plus, it was served with fiddleheads, which are baby ferns.  I had never had them (or knew one could have them) before.  They were really tasty (and form super cute little rings when cooked).

For dessert, we ordered the fig and pecan galette and the honey & buttermilk panna cotta.  The panna cotta was ok (not spectacular to be honest), but the galette, oh the galette.  I would compare it to a fancy, warm fig newton with ice cream.  Swoon.

I also think one of nicest parts of the meal was having one of the owners come over to our table.  The restaurant is over a year old at this point and clearly doing well, but he took the time to come over, make sure everything was alright and chat with us for a few minutes.  It showed the level of commitment and love for their place, which is always appreciated.

And finally, for the record, I did not eat again until 3 pm the following day.