I’ve already talked about some of my rules for gym etiquette, but in honor of the new year, we’re going to expand on this topic!
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December 2009
Gooood morning! Happy Thursday!
So last night was such a good food festival. I did a five mile run in the afternoon, which was good. I listened to Girl Talk the whole time and thought about how few training runs I have left! Then I headed to Ann Arbor. First, I had coffee (actually, to-die-for lemon ginger tea) with my friend Erica. It was SO fun to catch up, and it made me miss all the hours we had to discuss our lives back in Sigma Kappa. Then it was off to Zingerman’s for dinner with Julia and Nisha. We all had dinner together at Founding Farmer’s in DC in November, so this was our little reunion dinner! As I pulled in, Julia texted, “Friend! Come eat with me!”
So I did!
Margaritas were on special, so each ordered one…
For apps, I really wanted sweet potato fries, and luckily the girls agreed.
SO good. That dipping sauce is amazing!
It wasn’t easy to decide what to order, but Nisha and I went with the macaroni and cheese. I got the three peppercorn goat cheese mac. “Fresh, handmade goat cheese sauce caramelized with freshly-cracked black Telicherry, green, and white peppercorns, topped with a crispy round of aged Chelsea goat cheese and bread crumbs.”
Umm….don’t mind if I do!!!!
Julia got the BBQ chicken sandwich with sauteed spinach…incredibly delicious!
Dinner was obviously the homemade donut sundae…
The food was amazing, but honestly, I felt like I barely ate much because we had such good conversations going!! Both Julia and Nisha are in grad school and will definitely change the world, and they are just the kind of inspiring, baller, supportive, funny friends you want in your life all the time. We all are just very passionate and tend to just gush. Is there such thing as a goalgasm? Because that’s what I was having. And because we were having such great conversations about 2010/careers/acceptable numbers of sexual partners for a 25-year-old frat guy, I felt like I had about ten bites of pasta! And just the one Margarita. So…that’s a good way to watch what you’re eating when dining out!
Midway through dinner a couple sat down next to us and I noticed they had champagne. We had been talking about love a lot the whole night (duh), and so I was kinda into the fact that they were celebrating an anniversary. A little bit later the man just looked at me and said, “We’re celebrating our 32nd anniversary! And we knew each other SIX WEEKS.” It was totally relevant to the conversation we’d been having before they sat down and I’m such a lover…it just made me so happy!
Perfect night!!
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This week is FLYING by! I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already!!
I have had the idea of an olive oil cake in my mind for some time. It just sounds so unusual, but fantastic. When I started looking for a recipe, I had to go with the lemon cake I found on Epicurious — lemon is absolutely my favorite flavor! I thought this cake was a nice New Year’s treat too…very different from all the desserts you OD’d on at Christmas because it’s not heavily spiced or super sweet.
When it comes to the olive oil for this cake, I would definitely recommend using a really good olive oil, especially if you’re making this to serve to people at an event. However, I used what was in my pantry and the cake still turned out fine.
Ingredients
3/4 cup olive oil (extra-virgin if desired), plus additional for greasing pan.
2 large lemons
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
5 large eggs, separated, tossing one egg white. (So five yolks, four egg whites.)
3/4 cup plus 1 and 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Special equipment: a 9-inch (24-cm) springform pan
This Is How We Do It
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350. Grease springform pan with some oil.
I was really excited because I could use my new lemon zester!
It is amazing!! I hate zesting, so I am so happy about this.
Finely grate enough lemon zest to measure 1.5 teaspoons.
Whisk together with flour. Halve the lemons, then squeeze and reserve 1.5 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.
Beat egg whites from 4 eggs with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl at medium-high speed until foamy.
Add 1/4 cup sugar a little at a time, beating, and continue to beat until egg whites just hold soft peaks, about 3 minutes.
In a clean bowl, beat together yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium and add olive oil and lemon juice, beating until just combined (mixture may appear separated). It’s so satisfying to pour in all that golden olive oil! Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture (do not beat) until just combined.
Gently fold one third of whites into yolk mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.
Transfer batter to springform pan and gently rap against work surface once or twice to release any air bubbles. The batter is the most lovely shade of pale yellow!
Sprinkle top evenly with 1 and 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until puffed and golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around edge of pan and remove side of pan. Cool cake to room temperature, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove bottom of pan and peel off parchment, then transfer cake to a serving plate.
The sugar on top creates a nice crust.
Slice it up and serve!
It took me a few bites to place the flavor of the cake.
I finally realized it tastes a lot like coffee cake. It’s not sweet like most cakes, but the sugar topping is sweet enough that it’s still, you know, cake. It would be a perfect dessert to have with a Mediterranean-influenced meal or for a New Year’s Day brunch!
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