Salt City Girl

Raves and rants about the Salty City's food, film and alcohol.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Food: Meatloaf results are in

My last column in The Forum will let you know, my meatloaf lost hard to Cristy and Manfriend.

Ah, well. I think everyone can agree the surprise strawberry short cake Jen brought was the best dish of all.

Thanks, everyone, for all your help!

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Food: Inspiration cupcakes

Look at this!

Ming Makes Cupcakes has over 20 easy and beautiful cupcake recipes. Including a florless recip for the gluten free, some of them just sound so wonderful "Sourcream Raspberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting" or how about some "Coffee Chocolate Cupcakes with Baileys Irish Cream Frosting?" I can't believe this is real. It's so beautiful!

I feel so inspired. I'll have to try these out soon. The cookies and savouries (savory, rather than sweet, cupcaks) also sound delicious.


Amazing!

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Life: Seriously

I can't believe this is where I'm at.

I just keep thinking about the weird-ness of life. I never thought I would be the person I am today. But I'm happier than I believe I would be if I never left religion.

I'm about to graduate from college, which is an accomplishment. My family loves me, but couldn't provide much financial support. My oldest brother beat me to the first sibling Bachelor's degree last year, but I'm the youngest one to get their degree. So there!

My parents are planning on coming to graduation. I'm pretty excited to see them!
And just a few short months from now I will be flying to South Korea to teach English. I'm terrified of leaving all my life behind. But I'm excited for the future.

I can't wait to see what it's like. I'm excited for all the new adventures I will have and new friends I will make.

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Food: My meatloaf brings all the boys to the yard

My latest column brings on the comfort food show down.

Who's meatloaf will reign supreme? Find out April 23 at 12 p.m. in Converse Hall at Westminster College. Everyone is invited to taste test and vote!

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Alcohol: The cocktails never taste so good

The good news: the cocktails.

The bad news: bowing to Salt Lake City culture and adding a sports channel to the TV.

After presenting my senior project my posse of Ava, Erin, Lilian and Manfriend indulged my love of classic cocktails at the Speak Easy.

The Speak Easy is a 20s inspired bar in Downtown Salt Lake City (63 West 100 South). My friend Alex joined us later in the night. He just got back from South Korea, so you can blame him for my current indecision about teaching there or in Taiwan.

We had a great time with a lovely group of people who also sat in our comfy corner. The Speak Easy is a small venue, but has never been very packed. The live band was great and the cover charge was a reasonable $3 for one or $5 for two.

The space is lined with great comfortable couches and small tables. There are cool vintage mirrors above the stage area. And a small dance floor for the dancers of the group. The club has a dress code, but isn't too strict about it. In the name of dressing nice though, it's a great excuse for a cocktail dress and heels. There is a TV playing sports above the bar, but it's easy to ignore with all the other cool vintage things to watch.

The bar tenders know how to treat you right and will set you up with any cocktail. I tried the Bee's Knees and it was delicious. Lemony, sweet, and pretty, too. It was a little sweet for my taste so I went with a Long Island next.

I've explained the baseline theory of cocktails before, any one who can make a Long Island can make a cocktail. I said it at the bar and I'll say it at the blog, "Speak Easy makes the best Long Island's in Salt Lake." These people aren't afraid of their alcohol and you can taste it.



I finished the night with a side car. I love the cognac, lemon mix.

I also tried Manfriend's Singapore Sling. It was definitely too Kool-Aid like for me, but he liked it enough to get a second.

The Speak Easy also serves beer on tap.

I had a great night with a great group of people. I highly recommend Speak Easy to anyone who wants a different bar experience in the city of sports bars.

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Monday, April 5, 2010

Life: So, yeah...food!

I realize I haven't done a great job of keeping you posted about life or food via my blog. Twitter is my new favorite tool for annoying updates about myself and you can find me @kristamaesmith.

But I do have a few things, I would like to share with you.

First in food.

April 5 is officially Cafe Rio Day in Utah. So thank Governor Gary Herbert for giving you a reason to sit down with chips, salsa, guacomole, relleno and margaritas today. Or is that just me?

Meditirina was kind of a let down last time I was there. The house made sangria was delicious and the patas bravas were as delicious as I remembered. However the Drunken Oreos were soaked, not dipped, in port wine, not a reduction sauce. All in all, Manfriend and I still had a good experience, but I think I'll stick with my own Drunken Oreos in the future.

And I'm on a mission to steal the bruschetta recipe from the Meditirina kitchen as well. Balsamic and tarragon soaked strawberries with chevre cheese on top of crisp, buttery bread. Mmmm....so good!

In the past two months Millies and the Soup Kitchen have been mainly responsible for keeping my grease quota. But I've blogged enough about them for you to know how much I love burgers and onion rings from both of these great Sugar House icons.

Second in life...

I'll be graduating May 29 at 1 p.m.-ish at the E Center in West Valley, UT. If you like me enough to read my blog, you are invited. Of course, leading up to that I'll be in a panic about finishing my senior project, writing a research paper, writing a film theory paper, editing the paper and writing a column. So in advance, I'm thanking you for your patience. (Especially, Manfriend!)

I'm in the middle of my application to teach in Taiwan, but I feel good about getting it done on time. Next weekend, I should be able to get the video done. Once I have my passport, I will be elligible to begin training.
Otherwise things are pretty normal. The St. Patrick's day party was fun. We played "Apples to Apples' for forever. Long enough anyway for me to leave and talk with Harry. The sidecars were awesome! The combination of one part cognac to three parts lemon juice is so good! I love the sour tanginess of it.
I'm looking forward to trying an old school daquiri with rum and lime juice, next.

The potatoe skins were pretty good. I completely forgot to add any butter. Luckily, no one seemed to notice. I think they were distracted by the bacon. Or the booze, whatever.

Finally I tested out the Black Magic Chocolate cake recipe Amber recommended. My version didn't come out quite as good. I think because I did a buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese frosting. So next time, Sis, my chocolate will beat up your chocolate. Or at least, taste as good. The cake was easy to bak and did well divided up into a dozen cupcakes and a 9" square cake pan.
The next shindig I'm putting on will be the Mad Men cocktail party. So get out your cocktail wear and tell me your favorite classic cocktail. We'll be partying Don Draper style following my graduation.

I know, you're excited. I am.



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