Does anyone know anything about the "Dairy Bar" going in next to Kickass Cupcakes? I keep seeing the signs in the window but am wondering what the scoop is, when it will open up, etc.!
It's always astonished me, how hard it is to get soft-serve ice cream in Boston. It's as if they don't know that you can get soft ice cream; they've only ever heard of soft-serve frozen yogurt, and worse yet, only the fat-free kind (and half the time sugar-free, too! blech!). As with the conversation about vegan products below, fro-yo doesn't HAVE to be a "healthy" alternative to ice cream, and like many things it's even tastier without the fat stripped out... but that's all an aside; what I'm really craving is the soft-serve ice cream. *drools*
There is a Rita's Water Ice that sells frozen custard in Leominster at the mall at Whitney Field. And no, I don't travel that far just for custard, but it warms my Jersey-girl heart anyway.
Yeah, Philly/S.Jersey is where the family on my mom's side is. Which leads me to one of my only genuine complaints about Boston: lack of street food! Philly is like a mecca for the stuff.
Yeah, next time I eat something around here labeled a "Philly cheesesteak" that isn't I may cry! (Not really.)
And Philly was also decent for New York-style pizza. Not as good as NYC, obviously, but still good. There's some ancient post on this community where I desperately inquire about finding the kind of pizza I remember from my childhood.
Man, if you'd told me when I was a kid I'd someday be reminiscing about Philadelphia food, I'd have laughed. (Although their gourmet scene is better now than it was then...) Maybe it's just that you always miss what you grew up with, even if it doesn't seem that special to anyone else. Now that Tastykakes have gone national, they don't taste as good as I remember them. (Though they might actually be less good than they used to be. It's hard to tell.)
And don't even get me started on soft pretzels. I might start to cry (really).
In Quincy, beowabbit and I discovered a real, genuine, OMG Dairy Queen. I almost died of creamy deliciousness. I didn't know there were any in greater Boston. Since you guys live basically around the block from me, maybe we can all hop in the WabbitMobile and make a pilgrimage sometime.
I agree, that fat-free sugar-free frozen non-ice-cream product isn't food. Give Boston soft serve!
Glad they have decent vegan cupcakes, at least. Many vegan cakes have a sawdust consistency which I despise, or they have a wicked oily consistency which is just as icky.
I am often confused by the quality of vegan baked goods at certain places since I've been making the stuff for years (and eating of others' kitchens before that) and I can't seem to duplicate those problems at home.
Sometimes people act like making something vegan means they have to try to make it "extra healthy" so try to make it sugar-free, fat-free, wheat-free, chocolate-free, or whatever else, and I think that's often the real problem.
I think it's that "needs to be extra healthy" myth that makes so many commercial vegan baked goods yucky tasting. I've converted lots of cake, cookie and frosting recipes to vegan, and all I needed was egg replacer and vegan margerine. Otherwise it had all the fat, sugar, chocolate, sprinkles and everything else that makes life worth living.
I think the "needs to be healthy myth" comes from the fact that some vegans won't eat white flour, white sugar, honey, etc. in addition to the "usual" milk, butter, eggs. Once you've replaced all those things, your concoction sure does start to kind of look like health food.
That's why I like surrealestate; she's a vegan who welcomes chocolate, salt, sugar, Fritos and anything else that didn't come from an animal. I've veganized cake and cupcakes and pies to bring to her events, using mainstream ingredients like Fleishmann's Unsalted Margarine (vegan, as opposed to the non-vegan salted version, which is strange) and egg replacers from the Harvest Co-Op. Yummy. Perhaps not ultra-orthodox-vegan because I used ordinary cake flour and white beet sugar, but she ate 'em!
I'm generally addicted to dairy, but my very favorite cake recipe happens to be vegan, and I didn't even have to convert it (it's a WWII "crazy cake" recipe, invented I think because of rationing/shortages, that uses olive oil and vinegar instead of eggs and dairy; it sounds weird, but those ingredients somehow also create the proper chemical interaction during baking).
I think it tastes much better than the average chocolate cake recipe. It's always been my impression that eggs and dairy are used in cakes because they're easier/stabler than the alternatives (crazy cake recipes do sometimes collapse, as they're more fragile -- you have to be really careful not to overmix), definitely *not* because they taste better.
Come to think of it, I've had many vegan cupcakes made by friends that used fruit of some kind in place of butter that were also absolutely delicious, often better than any commercial cupcake (although, again, they sometimes fell apart -- I think that's why they were always cupcakes and not layer cakes).
Have I had any of your vegan baking? It seems likely that I have, and yet I can't remember. I'd love to try!
I brought cupcakes to NYE gatherings, but I can't recall if I saw you at any of them. I think I made chocolate chip as well as mint cupcakes. I made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting for last year's cabaret.
*thinks* I've made my corn muffins a number of times, too. And various cookies. So yeah, I dunno. :]
When I talked to Sara(h?) she said that they would be carrying the full line of Shaw Farm's products, including ice cream. (http://www.shawfarm.com/)
She also said that most of the space would be for baking prep, and only some would be stuff for sale. (I hope this means there will be some seating at Kickass Cupcakes, but I don't know.)
My guess is she had access to the space starting on April 1st. I can tell construction is underway, and I'm guessing the dairy bar will open as soon as the construction is done.
My friend who wanted to write an article said it would be early as two weeks. The construction crews are there every night until 11pm when I'm walking home, so they must be in a rush to get it done by April 1st.
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Date: 2008-04-11 07:00 pm (UTC)I'm just glad that now Turkey Hill is a national brand
Date: 2008-04-11 07:09 pm (UTC)And Philly was also decent for New York-style pizza. Not as good as NYC, obviously, but still good. There's some ancient post on this community where I desperately inquire about finding the kind of pizza I remember from my childhood.
Man, if you'd told me when I was a kid I'd someday be reminiscing about Philadelphia food, I'd have laughed. (Although their gourmet scene is better now than it was then...) Maybe it's just that you always miss what you grew up with, even if it doesn't seem that special to anyone else. Now that Tastykakes have gone national, they don't taste as good as I remember them. (Though they might actually be less good than they used to be. It's hard to tell.)
And don't even get me started on soft pretzels. I might start to cry (really).
Re: I'm just glad that now Turkey Hill is a national brand
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Date: 2008-04-11 05:02 pm (UTC)I agree, that fat-free sugar-free frozen non-ice-cream product isn't food. Give Boston soft serve!
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Date: 2008-04-11 08:33 pm (UTC)Also there is Dairy Joy in Weston.
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Date: 2008-04-11 03:05 am (UTC)*sits in lactose intolerant corner*
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Date: 2008-04-11 03:29 am (UTC)Glad they have decent vegan cupcakes, at least. Many vegan cakes have a sawdust consistency which I despise, or they have a wicked oily consistency which is just as icky.
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Date: 2008-04-11 04:15 am (UTC)Sometimes people act like making something vegan means they have to try to make it "extra healthy" so try to make it sugar-free, fat-free, wheat-free, chocolate-free, or whatever else, and I think that's often the real problem.
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Date: 2008-04-11 01:12 pm (UTC)I think it tastes much better than the average chocolate cake recipe. It's always been my impression that eggs and dairy are used in cakes because they're easier/stabler than the alternatives (crazy cake recipes do sometimes collapse, as they're more fragile -- you have to be really careful not to overmix), definitely *not* because they taste better.
Come to think of it, I've had many vegan cupcakes made by friends that used fruit of some kind in place of butter that were also absolutely delicious, often better than any commercial cupcake (although, again, they sometimes fell apart -- I think that's why they were always cupcakes and not layer cakes).
Have I had any of your vegan baking? It seems likely that I have, and yet I can't remember. I'd love to try!
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Date: 2008-05-25 01:29 pm (UTC)*thinks* I've made my corn muffins a number of times, too. And various cookies. So yeah, I dunno. :]
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Date: 2008-04-11 05:46 am (UTC)Thanks
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Date: 2008-04-11 01:09 pm (UTC)*wants a bowler hat*
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Date: 2008-04-11 03:20 am (UTC)She also said that most of the space would be for baking prep, and only some would be stuff for sale. (I hope this means there will be some seating at Kickass Cupcakes, but I don't know.)
My guess is she had access to the space starting on April 1st. I can tell construction is underway, and I'm guessing the dairy bar will open as soon as the construction is done.
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Date: 2008-04-11 02:24 pm (UTC)shaw farm milk is my favorite!
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