Lucious, mysterious, lavender brownies

I’ve long thought cooking with flowers was a little too precious for my style.  It seemed so Martha-like and made me conjure up images of a mesclun salad sprinkled with pansy petals– the kind that would be served at a baby shower luncheon in the Hamptons. 

But recently, I reviewed a book called The Scented Kitchen that may have changed my mind.  Because it’s winter in Australia, about the only flowers available right now were lavender so I tested the author’s recipe for lavender smoked salmon (it’s a keeper) and then made lavender brownies for dessert.

The recipe for lavender brownies wasn’t in the book, but I took the author’s advice  to do my own floral experimentation.  So I used an Alice Medrich brownie recipe and for the regular sugar I substituted lavender sugar, which I made by pulsing lavender flowers and sugar in the food processor.

Granted, the basic brownie recipe is a terrific one, but adding lavender takes them to a new level.  There’s a whiff of lavender as you bite into the brownie, but unless you know it’s in there, it’s one of those aromas that you can’t quite put your finger on.  The lavender even seemed to add a spicy note to the brownies which  developed their intensity and richness.

And even though I did feel like I was channeling Martha maybe just a little while I was making these, there’s nothing precious about them.  They’re dark, mysterious and darned near perfect.

Useless Kitchen Gadgets

Pizza scissors???  Really?  I mean, come on.  REALLY???

If you need one of these things to “effortlessly” cut your pizza, you probably shouldn’t get near a hot oven in the first place.  When you find cutting pizza with a knife or a pizza wheel too taxing, perhaps you should have just called Dominos.

This thing looks like a PITA to clean and store.  I would assume it would quickly be relegated to the back of the kitchen gadget drawer to take its rightful place with the avocado slicer, creme brulee torch, and melon baller. 

I want to know what you think are the most useless gadgets you’ve ever seen, or –’fess up now– owned.  I’ll own up to the melon baller.  But as God as my witness, I will never own a pair of pizza scissors.

You named your restaurant what? Part III

I stumbled upon this review of an unfortunately named London restaurant called “Oops”.  What does “Oops” mean?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Could it be “Oops! Our soft opening is tomorrow and we still don’t have a name for this place?” I just hope it’s not Oops as in: “Oops. I dropped the lamb cutlet on the floor.” “Well, pick it up quick and plate it, they’ll never know the difference.”  Or “Oops.  We don’t seem to have your reservation.  The wait’s only 90 minutes, though.  Would you like to take a seat in the bar?” 

In the interest of fairness, there’s a better review from the folks at Time Out, here.

You named your restaurant WHAT? The Sequel

The last thing I want to be reminded of when I go to a Mexican restaurant is the nasty bout of TD I brought home after eating a salad in Mazatlan.   

So naturally, a Mexican Restaurant named Montezuma’s summons up a memory lane I’d rather just not go down.

Montezuma’s is a pretty big Mexican restaurant chain in Australia, and an internet search shows there are Montezuma’s in NY and Pennsylvania, too.  Now, I realize that Montezuma was an Aztec ruler and it’s not unheard of to name restaurants after royalty.  But when that person’s name is most commonly associated in popular culture with Montezuma’s Revenge, I’d think twice before putting that person’s name on my restaurant.  Or menu:

Would Montezuma’s Delight be the opposite of Montezuma’s Revenge?  And what, exactly, would the opposite of that be?  Two opposites that come immediately to mind for me are both pretty unappealing.