Donuts, Pizza, Bread Pudding OH MY!

Another week of school completed. Time to catch up on blogging!

Zeppoli. "Soft, traditional Italian doughnuts dusted with powdered sugar, served with chocolate sauce for dipping." You can find these funnel cake like treats at your local Olive Garden. (I don't feel that it is necessary to post the link to Olive Garden). Now, because it has been 5 weeks since I have eaten these due to extenuating circumstances aka school, my memory might be a little fuzzy. They weren't particularly spectacular. They were similar to a funnel cake, but no comparison. If it weren't for the chocolate dipping sauce, which was the consistency of Hershey's syrup, they would have been rather bland hollow pieces (because chocolate makes everything better) of dough sprinkled with a little powdered sugar, which didn't really help enhance the flavor at all. What I do remember is going to Olive Garden with my two roommates and one of their fiances and specifically telling them not to let me eat all of the donuts. I believe there were eight of them total. But then of course, when the plate came out I only gave them one to try, knowing darn well that I wouldn't be able to sit there with the remaining seven and not eat them. It's like the whole saying one thing doing another. I tell them I don't want to eat them all and not to let me, but I secretly want to eat them all and plan on doing just that. Sigh. I've pretty much come to realize that one day I will have diabetes. I actually have been trying to cut back on my sugar. In fact, I didn't eat dessert Monday or Tuesday.....And then ate frozen yogurt, cheesecake, and chocolate cake on Wednesday...But that's another story in itself. Moving on.


Pizza. I work for a personal chef, Diane Lestina, who teaches cooking classes in the Bryan/College Station area. She is amazing. www.chefdiane.com. She also has a pizza oven in her backyard. I recently washed dishes at a wine and cheese party for her, and she so graciously made me some homemade pizza afterwards (yes homemade dough and everything). The first pizza was a simple tomato sauce with fresh mozzarella cheese. Now, I probably shouldn't be blogging about this, only because unless you have a pizza oven as well, you most definitely will not be able to recreate the flavors. The crust is perfect, not too thick, not too thin, not too soft, not too crispy. The fresh tomato flavor paired with the partially melted cheese creates not only a visual masterpiece but a fresh taste that will simply melt in your mouth. And because Diane takes such good care of me and knows how much I love dessert, she made a s'more pizza with Hershey's chocolate and marshmallows and a chocolate pizza drizzled with olive oil and salt. Now, I have been to Max Brenner's in NYC and had their s'more pizza, and it did not compare to the one from Diane's. It probably has something to do with the homemade crust. The simplicity of the two classic s'more ingredients incorporated with the crust bring the s'more to a whole new level. Olive oil and salt, okay. But chocolate? Yes, chocolate. Like I said before, chocolate makes everything better. (And by the way, she used a higher quality of chocolate for this pizza). The richness of the oils melted into the richness of the chocolate into this exquisite ooey gooey combination of bliss. There are simply some situations where opposites do attract.

Bread pudding is essentially bread soaked in eggs, syrup, and some various other ingredients. It is then baked and served with some sort of sweet sauce. The particular bread pudding that I had was served with a hot cognac sauce. First off, I have to give full credit to my manager Michelle Payne. She told me about Chef Point Cafe, which is a restaurant connected to a gas station in Fort Worth. www.chefpointcafe.org. It was also featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. One of the featured dishes on the show was the bread pudding. Since I have yet to eat at Chef Point, my manager so kindly brought me back some of the acclaimed bread pudding. Now, I obviously didn't get to have the bread pudding fresh, but reheating it in the microwave hit a home run for me. It was moist but not runny as a bread pudding should be, and had the perfect balance of sweetness. It tasted of a moist thick version of french toast. Breakfast and dessert...what could be better?