Gram's Hot Cross Buns recipe

Growing up, the coming of Easter heralded the arrival of Gram's hot cross buns. She'd start making them in the weeks before Easter and drop a batch off at the house. These are my all-time favorite rolls. I loved the sweetness of the bread and especially the glaze that is drizzled over them. She usually added raisins, but would make at least one batch without as some of us didn't like them. Usually we'd just pick out the raisins after the plain buns vanished.

Once when I was young I helped Gram make them, but it was so long ago I only have vague memories. My Aunt who lives in Tucson mentioned that she'd made some this year, so I asked her for the recipe. This was the first thing I made after the dough hook arrived. They are pretty easy to make and they tasted almost exactly like I remember. Hot out of the oven with butter, they were amazing. They reheat very well in the microwave. I cut them in half and spread butter on top and bottom. Reassemble and nuke for 10-15 seconds. The bun gets warm and the butter melts. Not quite as good as fresh, but still quite yummy.

When I made them, I weighed the dough on my kitchen scales and divided them into balls of approximately equal size. I spread my rolls out so they weren't touching on the sheet pan, but you can put them right next to each other if you wish. I got just under two dozen rolls out of this recipe.

Hot Cross Buns

1 package yeast (I used Active Dry)
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar

Scald milk, let cool to lukewarm (~115 or so) and then dissolve yeast and sugar in milk.

Add:

1 1/2 cups flour to make spongy mixture: beat until smooth, cover let rise about 1 hour.

Cream together and add to mixture:

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg

Add:

2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Raisins (optional)

Knead and let rise until double. Shape into balls, place on greased cookie sheet, and let rise again until double. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Frost while warm:

1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tablespoons warm water


Traditionally the rolls are frosted in perpendicular lines so that each bun has a cross on it. I prefer more frosting so I tend to cover them liberally. The frosting is somewhat trial and error to get the right consistency for this. If you want a lot of frosting, double the amount. My Aunt uses milk in the frosting instead of water, but I haven’t tried it that way yet.

Weekend Baking - Basic Bread

Ever since I got the new KitchenAid, I've wanted to make bread. My old KA struggled with the pretzel dough I made a few months ago, so I was afraid to push it with heavier bread doughs. Since the new KA was a demo model, it only came with the whisk attachment. I ordered the paddle shortly after I got the mixer, but only recently did I get the dough hook.

For my first attempt at bread, read through the various lessons at The Fresh Loaf, a web site for amateur bakers and artisan bread enthusiasts I'd stumbled across a while back. Their first lesson includes a basic recipe. They use this as the starting point and later lessons explain how various added ingredients affect your bread. My last foray into bread making involved a bread machine, so I didn't mind starting from square one.

I stuck with the recipe except for increasing the oven to 400 degrees instead of 375. I'd read through the other lessons and one method for crustier loaf is to increase the temp. The loaf came our pretty good. It was very dense and crusty. Not the greatest loaf ever, but good for a starter loaf. As you can see from the picture, it didn't look half bad either. Tara and I made fairly short work of the loaf.

Maxim Restaurant - Phoenix

In what has become somewhat of a tradition, with Tara out of town on a quick trip home to Minnesota, I decided to get some Vietnamese food for lunch on Saturday. Usually this means Davang or Avina's, but I decided to branch out once again, despite my Scorcese-dialogued lunch the last time. I'd seen Maxim Restaurant mentioned on Chowhound and there was a very positive review in the Republic last week, so I decided to give it a try.

Maxim is located just north of the Osborne/19th Ave intersection in a tiny and somewhat rundown strip mall. They are literally just down the road from Town Talk II BBQ. They were moderately busy for a late Saturday lunch and the friendly staff waved me to an open table and dropped off a menu.

The menu is a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese dishes, with the majority on the Vietnamese side of things. All the staples were there, except for banh mi. I spent so much time looking over the menu a waitress came over and asked if I needed any help with the menu. Very unusual for most Vietnamese places I've been to. I explained that I was just having a hard time narrowing things down. I finally decided on fried shrimp and pork egg rolls, fresh shrimp spring rolls, pho tai soup and a Pepsi.

The spring rolls came out a few minutes later and at first I though they were pre-made. After taking a bite and tasting the still-warm noodles, I realized it was just the thick rice paper that had given me that impression. They were very good and the peanut sauce they came with was as well. I made short work of them.

Next the plate of sprouts, herbs, and lemon wedge to dress my pho was dropped off. Shortly after that my egg rolls came. They were fried to a beautiful golden brown and very hot. I let them cool down for a bit before I tried them. They were excellent. Marginally larger than usual, they were dense and seemed to have some extra ingredients. Dipped into the nuac mam, they were perfect. I've loved the Vietnamese version of fried egg rolls ever since I first tried them back in my later college years. I love that they are mostly meat with a few veggies sparsely mixed in. I think there were some sort of mushroom in these as well. I would have been content with about a dozen of these for my whole lunch.

The bowl of pho followed a few minutes after I scarfed down the last remnants of the egg rolls. It came in a large ceramic bowl instead of the usual generic plastic ones. The thinly sliced pieces of rare beef were mostly cooked, so I separated them and pushed them into the soup to finish cooking. The broth was very rich and I was enjoying it on it's own. Another one of the owners came over and explained that there hot sauce and hoisin sauce on the table were to season the soup to taste. Again, this has never happened before. I thanked him and proceeded to douse my pho liberally with the hoisin. It was funny how my actions were being misread as ignorance as opposed to just taking my time or enjoying things on their own first. I figure most white boys who go there must be really clueless. I added some lemon (although I missed the ususal lime) and some herbs and mixed it all well. The pho was very good and I enjoyed it as much as the other items. Once I'd eaten as much of it as I could, I went to the counter to pay.

And then the weirdness happened.

As I was paying, one of the guys sitting at the table closest to the counter, which consisted of owners/waitstaff from what I could deduce, got up and came over to the counter.

"You have a very nice face," he said. I blinked several times and said, "Um, thanks?"
"No, it's got a very nice shape." he continued. Again, I was a bit nonplussed.
"Very friendly. you look very familar. We were all talking about how much it reminds us of him," he said, pointing to a nearby image of Buddha.
I smiled. "And I've got his body as well, so it's a two-for-one," I said. They all laughed.

Buddha. Really. Usually the diety I'm associated with is from a much hotter climate, so this was a nice change.

Although I did get my clothes ready to head back to the gym tomorrow. I'm taking that as a sign from, well, SOMEONE, that it's time to hit the cardio again.

Shish Kebab House has FINALLY opened their new location!

(Pardon the picture quality. Low-light and the camera on my BlackBerry don't mix well.)

I decided to drive by Shish's new location today and they had the Grand Opening sign up and the Open sign lit. I went in and ordered a small hummus to go for Tara, as she was enjoying a rest day at home. I talked to the owner and he said they've been open four or five weeks now. The menu is the same as it was at their old location and from what I can tell prices are the same as well.

The new interior looks really nice. It's definitely different than the old location. Only the table and chairs are the same. I was there at about 5pm and there were three or four groups and more arrived while I waited. The hummus tasted the same as it used to, so that's a good sign. We'll probably go back in a few weeks for full meal.

One thing I did notice is there appear to be some waitstaff issues. They are obviously still training and the owner had some semi-harsh words to one of the waitresses while I was waiting. Service has been a recurring issue there for us, but we tend to overlook that because we like the food so much.

The new address is 5158 W. Olive Ave, Glendale, AZ 623-937-8757

You serve customers with that mouth?

I like to swear. Despite my parents raising me to be a good boy, I can have quite the potty mouth. My grandfather was the real-life inspiration for the Old Man in "A Christmas Story". Well, not actually, but he certainly could have been the dialogue coach on the NC-17 version. If you'd ever heard him, you'd understand. As creative as I can be, I'm still in awe of some of his Richard Pryor/Eddie Murphy/Dennis Leary levels of cursing. We'd have to leave the area because we didn't want to start laughing in front of him.

Anyways, I know there are times to be polite and watch myself. There's a reason I ALWAYS stay on mute during conference calls. Once bitten and all that.

So today I decided to try a different place for Vietnamese food. Tara was off enjoying a girls' day out with some friends, so I was on my own. Traditionally, that means Vietnamese cuisine, her least favorite of my favorites. I decided to try Tudo Vietnamese Restaurant on the SW corner of Northern and 19th Ave.

There were only a couple of other parties when I arrived and I was told I could sit anywhere. The youngish girl who was hostess/waitress/front room person brought me a menu and took my drink order. It's a typical seen better days type of Vietnamese place. Half the space is tables, the other half has a large stage for either bands or karoke.

I ordered fried egg rolls and bun (a bowl of noodles, veggies, and meat) with grilled pork. A little later, my egg rolls came out. Very darkly fried, like the oil was too hot or dirty. They tasted good, though, and reminded me a bit of the ones I had at a Vietnamese friend's house once, only not quite as good. My bun came and had pieces of egg rolls as well as pork, so I thought they gave me the wrong thing. However, when filling up my water, the waitress said they added them since they knew I must like them. A nice touch, as I can eat egg rolls like that all day. The bun was good as well, but nothing special. Avina's and Davang have nothing to fear.

As I was nearly finished, the waitress answered a phone. She spoke in Vietnamese for a while and would shift to English too. She hung up. The phone rang again, picked it up, and she started nearly shouting "What the F&*K is his problem" into the phone, over and over. Eventually a "motherf***er" was thrown in for good measure. Mind you, she's standing behind the counter and CLEARLY audible throughout the restaurant. I was the only customer at that point, so the others missed Little Miss Gangsta Mouth's performance. An older gentleman wandered into the seating area from the kitchen with a bowl of noodles and sat down to eat, blissfully ignoring the girl's tirade.

I can't imagine what would have happened if a group with kids had been in there. And I can't really recommend anyone with children go there. The food was ok, but that kind of extended blue streak isn't fit for a family restaurant. I won't be returning. Avina's always has good service and very friendly staff. Davang, well, it's typical competent but surly Vietnamese service, but at least they don't do this type of outburst.

Bye Bye Bill's

My brother, who has only called me once EVER and that was a drunk dial a few weeks ago, called me around 7:30 last night. That's 9:30 in Maine, so I was somewhat worried. It didn't start off well. He said he had some really bad news. My stomach clenched, as all of my family is in our small town there. He asked a couple times if I was ready. I said yes.

"Bill's has closed."

While not quite as bad as a family member passing away, Bill's Sandwich Shop (or Bill's Pizza) in Yarmouth, ME, has been an icon for our family for over 30 years. My first memory of it was during a Sunday drive decades ago. I'm not sure if I was even 10 yet. We saw a small sandwich shop along the road and stopped in. All I remember is one of us ordered a crabmeat rolls and instead of the roll being in a hotdog bun, it was on a full-sized italian roll. Pure crabmeat, mayo, salt and pepper, lay atop some lettuce on the roll. And it was beyond over-stuffed. We are all in awe. It was like unwrapping a bar of gold. Trumpets sounded, a heavenly light shone, and all of us were awestruck. Picture Ralphie getting his air rifle for Christmas. From that day, Bill's was a frequent stop whenever we went drove by on the highway. We'd go out of our way to stop in if we were even remotely near Freeport. Dad would drive to Portland for something and he bring home a couple crabmeat rolls so we could share. No place we ever found had anything to compare with Bill's.

But their crabmeat roll wasn't all they had. My brother doesn't eat seafood and he'd always get a Zappa. Cappicola, cheese, and spicy hot mustard. Bill's was one of those shops that has dozens of custom subs with wacky names. I don't know of any place like it in Phoenix or most places I've lived. During college, I'd ALWAYS grab a sandwich on my way by, be it coming or going. When college friends came up for the weekend with me, we'd stop in. To this day, some of them still ask about Bill's. My answer had always been the same: "They are still there and the crabmeat rolls are as good as ever."

Sadly, I now need a new answer.

Busy start of the year

We are in the process of moving to a new house, so this has been a busy month. Our landlords are letting their current home go into foreclosure and are moving back into this one since it's cheaper. Looking at new rentals, the whole application process, selling blood and gold fillings to come up with the earnest payment, security deposit, first month's rent, and packing has taken most of our time. The bright side is we have found a new place, it's only about a mile directly south as the vulture flies, and we move in next Monday. We have to come up with our own washer and dryer, but we're hoping my tax refund will be here by then so we can get one at a used appliance store not too far from here. One of our friends offered us a great deal on a floor model electric dryer he bought for his new home before he realized he needs a gas model, but even with the smoking deal he'd give us, it's still about double what we want to spend on the whole pair. We figure since it's a rental house, we just need some reliable used ones.

The new place is a few hundred square feet smaller, but we have a great room now that we only use for storage, so it's not a huge loss. The house is 4 or 5 years newer, so it should be more efficient and cheaper to heat/cool. The kitchen has a larger island and more cabinet room, but we lose our walk-in pantry. It's on a cul-de-sac and separated from busy Bell Road by a new condo development. The back yard is huge and has what looks like a sand volleyball court. We actually haven't seen the whole yard in daylight (it was full dark when we looked at the house) so that should be interesting. We really like our current place, but the new one is still nice.

At least we won't have to deal with the damn pig grunting and oinking across our current cul-de-sac. Just make it bacon already.