Decatur: Southern Sweets Bakery

This is the start of a short series on cakes, thanks to my upcoming birthday.

On a recent trip to the DeKalb Farmers Market, I noticed a sign for Southern Sweets Bakery. It's a little farther away from Ponce than one might expect, so don't give up too early. It's buried in the middle of an industrial park. Despite the unglamorous location, it has great baked goods and serves lunch as well.

I decided to try a piece of red velvet cake, one of my reference dishes that I use to compare establishments. The photo doesn't entirely do justice to the size of the piece, which was really larger than I deserved. The cake fit all the classic requirements of red velvet cake: good moist cake that is satisfyingly, artificially red; and a real cream cheese icing. The side of the cake had a texture made of small pieces---it looked like pieces of white chocolate although it tasted like the cream cheese icing. It was very pleasing but not overly sweet or cloying. It wasn't cheap ($5.30) but the size and quality justified the price.

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Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b

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