Broadway Coffee

http://www.broadwaycoffeecompany.com/

3200 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95817

(916) 594-9058

I miss living in the Grid. Like REALLY miss it.  Although I love living with Mr. S and the kiddos, I miss being close to the all things I like to do. These days I feel like I spend a lot of time on 50 driving into downtown for work, driving back to the 'burbs and then turning right back around to meet up with friends in Midtown.  On weekends, I find myself down there again, grabbing a drink with buddies or a bite to eat with Mr. S. Being in the 'burbs bites.  For one thing, there's more Starbucks then you can shake a stick at but hardly any good independent coffee shops.  

One of my favorite places of late to unwind is a place down near Mandy's house-  Broadway Coffee. Not quite the Grid, but just on the perimeter.  It's located on a quiet corner as you enter OP.  The building used to be pretty non-descript but recently they gave the building a little mini-makeover and it's sporting a fun mural that makes it pop from its surroundings.  The shop serves Temple coffee and has the most scrumptious desserts. My favorite is the pecan whisky tart (heated) but I've had terrific lemon bars, apple bread pudding and cookies there as well. (They get their desserts from Desserts by Vesela and also carry some vegan eats by the Sassy Oh Baking Company.)  I also love that more often than naught, I can pop in there and grab a table with no wait.  So far the place seems to be immune to the hipster infestation that seems to plague most of the neighborhood coffee houses in the Grid and it's surrounding areas. Not to rant too much about the subject, but I'm so tired of entering a coffee shop, buying a coffee and having no where to sit because people are camped out there for HOURS with their stupid laptops. I wish there was a max time limit on patrons being able to monopolize a table. I know, I know...first world problems.

Anyhow, the best part of Broadway Coffee is the staff.  Seriously! In a time where good customer service is next to impossible to find, this little cafe nails it.  No matter when I've gone in, I've found each staff member to be friendly and welcoming.  My favorite barista though is Elizabeth.  This lady has a 1000 kilowatt smile and within 2 minutes makes you feel at home. 

If you get a chance, stop in and grab a cuppa, plop down at a table and savor a little "you" time.  You won't be sorry. 

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GulabJamun

 
Ingredients :

For Making Gulabjamun Balls 
1 cup milk powder (Use ful fat milk powder)
¼ cup all purpose flour or maida
1 tsp oil or ½ tsp ghee
A pinch of salt (optional)
A pinch of baking soda
1 to 2 tbsp yogurt
A few blanched pistachio or almond slices for garnishing

For the sugar syrup
2 cups water
1.5 cups sugar
3-4 green cardamoms powdered
A pinch of saffron (optional)



Method :

 First sieve dry ingredients into a mixing bowl(milk powder, plain flour and baking soda).
Mix in yogurt and ghee and start to mix the ingredients lightly to make soft sticky dough.Now pinch small portions rolling it into a smooth ball as shown in pic below. Make sure there are no cracks on the surface else the ball will break when it is being cooked. Shape the rest of the dough similarly.

  Prepare Sugar Syrup
Meanwhile to a saucepan add sugar, water and powdered cardamom and stir well, place on low flame. Stir well until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens slightly, this may take 5 minutes. (No string consistencies needed). Then remove from flame and set aside.

Frying the gulab Jamun

Place a frying pan on flame and pour oil to deep fry the balls.
Now after the oil heats up, (oil should not be too hot), gently slide the prepared balls into it. Do not over crowd the pan. And check that the flame is in low mode.The balls will sink to the bottom and then it will gently rise up.

 Slowly turn each balls with a slotted spoon, at frequent intervals to make sure that the balls brown evenly.

Once they turn golden brownr remove balls from flame and place on a tissue paper to remove excess oil.
Transfer them to the prepared sugar syrup.The Gulab Jamun should rest in the sugar syrup for at least 1 hour before serving so that they absorb the sugar syrup well and become soft and melt in mouth treats.

Garnish gulabjamuns with pistachio or serve them warm with a scoop of cold ice cream.

 

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"I Left my Heart in Seattle" Brownies

I recently went on a vacation to Seattle. I hadn't been back to the Emerald City in about five years, but just minutes into the drive to the hotel I remembered why it was one of my favorite cities to visit. The lush greenery, overcast skies, and the petrichor--it's like a familiar blanket that envelopes me. Not to mention the coffee...Seattle is a town that knows how to do coffee right. I think Mr. S. and I had at least 5 cups a day. Seriously. Nothing beats a great cup of joe. I'm a big Stumptown fan, but we also ventured out and hit up several other coffee houses this visit. FYI- In the midst of our caffeine quest, Mr. S. and I discovered that Fonte also makes an amazing Americano. Give it a go.

If you're not already a fan of the Kimpton chain of hotels I highly suggest checking them out.  This is the second time we've stayed in a suite at the Alexis and we loved it. We got a great deal  (25% off, free parking, and a $40 gift card).  The free parking is a HUGE cost saver. Parking is crazy expensive in Seattle.  

Our Living Room 

The Dining Area (we were in the Ballerina Suite)

The Bedroom 

We also visited our favorite restaurant again- Cascina Spinasse in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. We did the Menu Degustazione (which includes every antipasto, primo and secondo on the menu) and every dish was spot-on amazing and the service was impeccable (just like last time). They've expanded a bit since the last time we were there but the restaurant has still retained it's rustic, romantic charm.  The housemade fontina fonduta stuffed Caramelle with pinenuts and sage was just one of my favorite dishes that night. It just melted in my mouth.

We did a few touristy activities as well- Pike Place, a ferry ride, the Space Needle, and a spin on the ferris wheel at sunset.  Mr. S. wanted to check out the EMP Museum, so we did that too.  

And I wanted to take a peek at Chihuly Gardens. The glass sculptures were absolutely mesmerizing. I could have spent the afternoon staring at some of the floor-to-ceiling pieces inside the facility.

Vacation, alas, it's always too short! When we got home I wanted to keep the vacation vibe alive so I made a batch of "Seattle brownies." It's a riff off of a recipe by Nick Malgieri that appeared in the NY Times called, "Supernatural Brownies." But this version has coffee and cocoa in it to kick it up a notch.

"I Left My Heart in Seattle" Brownies

Ingredients

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder

1 cup AP flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons Guittard's Cocoa Rouge Cocoa Powder

4 large eggs

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

1. Butter a 13x9 baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. 

2. Preheat oven to 350 F.

3. In a double boiler (or use a boiling pot of water with a metal bowl over it like I do), melt the bittersweet chocolate and butter. Once it's all melted down, add the instant coffee powder.  Mix together. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

4. In a bowl, combine the flour, sea salt, and cocoa powder together. Mix thoroughly. Set aside.

5.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs.  Then add in the sugars and vanilla.  Stir.  Add the melted chocolate/butter mixture and stir again.

6. Fold in the flour mixture. Mix. 

7. Pour the batter into the baking pan. Spread the batter evenly over the parchment paper. Sprinkle the walnuts across the batter.  

8. Bake in the oven for roughly about 35 minutes. At 30 minutes, I would stick a knife or toothpick in and see if it comes out clean.

9. Cool in pan on rack.  Once it's cool, lift out the brownies on the parchment paper. Slice. Place in airtight container or wrap with plastic tightly. **These brownies taste even better the next day when the flavors settle in. I know it's difficult, but set them aside until the next day.

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Java and Nut Juice...it's a winner. Califia Farm's Cold Brew Coffee with Almond Milk

I don't have a lot of vices but of the few I have, coffee is far and away the most prominent. My coworkers can attest to what a difference in personality I have if I roll into the office in the a.m. sans coffee. Let's just say...it's NOT pleasant.  So imagine my delight, when by happenstance I stumbled across a coffee product line that was delicious, convenient, and good for me?  Lemme tell you about my two new fave beverages:

XX Espresso Cold Brew Coffee with Almond Milk and Triple Shot Cold Brew Coffee with Almond Milk by Califia Farms.  

Both are delicious and low cal, much better than whatever Mocha-Choca-Bullshit you order at Starbucks.  I've bought the individual sizes at the Rite Aid by my work and have bought both individual sizes and the larger sizes in the grocery section of Target.  Raley's and the Co-Op also sell some of their stuff too but I think it might be pricier.  There's other flavors too - Dirty Chai, Salted Caramel, Mocha, Mocha Mexica, and Cocoa Noir. Mmmm...

A few interesting facts:

Califia's bottles are recyclable (Plastic #5).

Califia's almond milk is Kosher. Their products are Pareve and Orthodox Union is their Rabbinical Certifier

Their products are non-organic currently; however, they are all non-GMO.

Califia's iced coffees with almond milk have no saturated fat, ares soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, cholesterol-free, and carrageenan-free.

* This is not a sponsored post. The stuff just tastes good and deserved a shout out.

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Red Lentil Coconut Milk Soup

Dear Blog,

I know I've neglected you...like REALLY neglected you and I'm sorry. 2015 was a chaotic year, full of a lot of ups and downs and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and needed a break. It was me, not you. But this year I'm determined to have a great year and one of my resolutions is to get back into cooking and blogging. So be ready! ☺

First thing on my To Do List is: getting over this frickin' cold/sinus infection. It's hard to be awesome when you're all stuffed up and your head feels like it wants to explode.  Not to mention, I sound like a cross between Darth Vader and Girl 6 with my heavy breathing and raspy voice. It seems like everyone is down with this creeping crud...and this stuff apparently likes to lingers. I've already missed two days of work because of it and I'm pretty sure my office is one step away from going all Outbreak. There's a lot of people out with a cold, flu, or bronchitis.

I've been doing all the things I'm supposed to: hydrating, staying in bed, sleeping a ton, Purelling the sh*t out of everything, and using Puffs Plus Lotion (trust me, these are the holy grail of tissues). Peppy loves having me home and has been sleeping as much as I have. This weather has been pretty conducive for it. We even watched a great movie the other night, "Love and Mercy".  

I've also been eating a LOT of soup. A friend of mine made me a delicious Lemon Orzo with Chicken soup that I'm going to have to get the recipe for so I can make more. It felt insanely good on my sore throat.  In the meantime, this is one of my current favs to make when I'm feeling under the weather:

Red Lentil Coconut Soup

Ingredients

• 2 cups red lentils, uncooked
• 1 white onion,chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 fresh jalapeno, finely chopped, including seeds
• 1 tablespoon fresh peeled and minced ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon curry powder 
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ⅓ cup tomato paste
• 7 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can unsweetened light coconut milk
• 1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish (optional)
• lime wedges for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, red bell pepper, and jalapeno and saute until the vegetables have softened and the onion takes on a translucent color.

2. Add the ginger, garlic, curry, cinnamon, smoked paprika, salt and tomato paste. Stir. Cook for 3-4 more minutes.

3. Add the vegetable broth, coconut milk, lentils, and garbanzo beans. Stir. Bring the the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 20-30 minutes.  

4.  Add the lime juice at the end. Stir.  Season with additional salt, if needed.

5. (Optional) Serve with cilantro and lime wedges.

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Chirote

Ingredients
1 cup = 250 ml
1 cup all purpose flour / maida
1/8 cup melted ghee/clarified butter (30 ml)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
ghee/oil for deep frying

Rice flour paste
4 tbsp ghee
2 1/2 tbsp rice flour

Method :

 In a mixing bowl, add maida, hot melted ghee and milk and knead the dough. Cover and leave the dough aside for 20 mins.
Divide the dough into 6 equal balls and roll each of them like a chapati/tortilla. The tortilla / chapati should be thin and almost of the same size.

Now make the rice flour paste, add melted ghee to the rice flour and make the paste.
Chirote has layered texture, for which we need to use 3 chapatis or tortillas at a time.
 Take 1 chapati, spread the rice flour paste. Place the second chapati on top of it, again apply the paste and place the third one.
 Now roll tightly from one side and paste the opposite end firmly with the rice flour paste.
Similarly do for the next 3 chapatis, you need to be really quick as the rice flour mixture would start thickening and you cannot heat it again as the rice flour will get cooked. You can make this mixture twice, if you think you will not be able to paste the chapatis quickly.Leave the rolls aside for a while, so that the melted ghee thickens and the chapatis would stay together firmly.Once the ghee thickens, cut the rolls into 1 inch pieces.
Now one way is to roll the pieces with the plain sides up and the second way would be to roll lightly with the swirled side up.
I prefer the second way as the chirotes look good using that method. All you need to do is place the swirl side up and gently roll the pieces, so that you can see the layers.In a kadai heat enough oil or ghee for deep frying, once the oil is hot reduce the heat to medium.Deep fry the chirotes until golden brown and drain on absorbent paper.Immediately sprinkle 3-4 pinch of powdered sugar on it. Since the chirota is still hot, it will absorb the sugar powder easily.

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Besan Shev / Sev

Ingredients : 

• 1 cup besan ( chickpea flour)
• 3 cup rice flour  
• 1/2 stick butter melted 
• 3 tbsp cumin coriander powder 
• Pinch of asafoetida 
• 1 tbsp red chilli powder
• Salt to taste  
• Water to knead dough
• Oil to fry sev

Method : 

Mix besan, rice flour, cumin coriander powder, asafoetida, red chilli powder and salt. Add melted butter to the mixture and mix well. Start adding water to form a dough. Consistency of the dough should be like chapati dough. Make sure the consistency is right. Heat oil for frying. Add dough to sev maker and start forming sev in the oil. Deep fry the sev on medium high heat until they turn crispy and golden brown. Let the sev come to room temperature before storing them.

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