Ham Sandwich Indicted!

....is actually tomorrow (January 27th). But since the Ham Sandwich has other obligations to attend to this evening, she is honoring the day a tad early and letting her coworkers reap the delicious benefits. And damn if it isn't delicious. From the endless source of ideas that is Epicurious.com, I present to you my interpretation of their Chocolate Whiskey Bundt cake: Chocolate Whiskey & Kahlua Bundt Cake (because more booze = more better) Ingredients Cake: 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process) plus 3 tablespoons for dusting pan 1 1/2 cups brewed coffee 1/4 cup whiskey 1/4 cup Kahlua (or other coffee liquor) 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces 2 cups sugar 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla Ganache: 3/4-1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips 1/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon instant coffee/espresso powder Special equipment: a 10-inch bundt pan (3 1/4 inches deep; 3-qt ...

...And I can say that because I went through 16 years of Catholic school (yep, college, too...the Ham Sandwich is a glutton for guilt.) Anyway. One my favorite writers out there is a girl named Allie Brosh, who writes a completely hysterical and incredibly well drawn blog called Hyperbole and a Half . Many of her stories are hilarious accounts of her precocious childhood, and her most recent story got me thinking about the weird stuff my three siblings and I did as kids. One of the weirder things we did was this thing (game?) called The Mary Hole. (Insert inappropriate joke here) Let me set the scene: Growing up, we lived on a cul-de-sac, (the "court") that was about 1/10 of a mile around. The middle had a grassy area big enough for pick-up soccer games/red rover/red light-green light, and the perimeter was surrounded by groves of pine trees. It was basically our mini neighborhood park, and it was awesome. And did I mention that all four of us went to Catholic grade schoo...

I "like" Bon Appetit on Facebook, so I get little updates from them fairly frequently. Last week, they sent a link for what they called a " Food Lovers Cleanse ." It's a two week meal program, super light on the dairy and carbs, heavy on the whole grains and veggies. For one hot minute I thought about trying it out and doing it to the letter, then decided: 1) it's kinda pricey (mache? how about just good old baby spinach?), 2) I frankly don't have the time to make dinner every night, and 3) it's going to take a back seat to the Sugar Bowl, and TNDC . Sorry, I'm just not that dedicated. However, I did peruse the menu and figured I could try out some new ingredients/recipes in an attempt to start the new year off right. At the grocery, I picked up some quinoa (a grain that's been around for centuries and is, in my opinion, a cross between, couscous and barley), vanilla almond milk, and other assorted ingredients. Breakfast for a couple of...

The Ham Sandwich and Grandma Nana at Christmas--would you believe Grandma's 89?--The Ham Sandwich is clearly blessed with some good genetics. It's the first week of January--so of course, the Ham Sandwich (along with every other yahoo on the Internets) is starting off the year with some sort of reflective piece about the changeover. Looking back, 2010 was pretty eventful. The year started with the ending of one relationship, but ended with the beginning of a new one. In the middle, I ran my best time in the Columbus Half Marathon, continued my quest to create delicious pickles, and ate--OK, drank--the hottest pepper in the world (well, until this came along). I visited (and ate delicious food with) friends and loved ones in Boston, Philadelphia, and Petoskey, Michigan, made enough baked goods to single-handedly keep King Arthur Flour in business, and brewed my first batch of beer. As for 2011, it's shaping up to be pretty spectacular. I'm headed to Nepal in Marc...

True to form (and compulsion), Ham Sandwich and family kept it on the foodie tip this Christmas, with several days of festive food and drink. We started off on Christmas Eve with our now-traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes. This year's menu included: Garlic-butter glazed salmon (caught by H.S's brother, up in Michigan) Lemon and herb stuffed whole trout (also caught by said brother) Prociutto-wrapped scallops Sardines in Salsa Verde recipe here , with sardines instead of anchovies Crab cakes Shrimp cocktail Crab salad Salmon dip Farfalle pasta with tomato sauce Assorted cheeses, olives, and breads We also experimented with cocktails from Imbibe! a book of old-tyme drink recipes. And maybe the folks of 1862 had a different idea of what tastes good, but I would argue that Hot Buttered Rum is not very delicious. However, the Vanilla Punch we made on Christmas Day (with brandy, sugar, lemon, and vanilla extract), was quite enjoyable. For Christmas Day dinner, we went with a...

Finally, after years of wanting to try it, your Ham Sandwich, along with two of her partners-in-crime--P and L--jumped on the homebrew-making bandwagon. Above, we proudly present our ESB Pale Ale: Extra Sassy Bitches Edition. It has a rich amber-red color and is made with crystal malt and Target hops in the tea, and dry hopped with Kent Gold. We purchased our ingredients, based on a previously tried recipe, at the Winemaker's Shop , run by the super-friendly and always knowledgeable Scott Francis & Nina Hawranick. Thankfully, I was working with some experienced beer makers--P had made beer in the past with her husband, and L was a former quality control engineer for Anheuser-Busch. My beer experience has been limited to drinking it and slinging it . I failed to take pictures of the first several steps--boiling the tea (malt, water, malt extract, hops, some maple syrup), and the initial fermentation, but did get it together to get some pictures of the latter half of the ...

It started out simply enough: a group of friends with a standing Thursday night date at Buffalo Wild Wings for boneless chicken wings, a few beers, maybe some trivia. Over the course of the year, significant others came and went, but the core group--the Killa B, Big Country, and the H.S. remained. As the summer progressed, the group expanded to a few more regulars (V.Z., Doc Vince, Eddie-O, E.N.), and at the same time the group decided (ok, fine, yours truly, the restaurant geek, decided) that while the discounted boneless wings at BW3s were great and all, it was time to branch out. And with that, the Thursday Night Drinking/Dinner Club (TNDC) was born. Initial forays into other ports-of-call were simple, and stayed close to the sports bar/pub food genre: Brazenhead, King Avenue 5, Grandview Cafe. As the only female of the group for some period of time, and taking into consideration the Killa B's profound affection for BW3s Terriaki sauce, I had to work slowly. It became clear,...