A Tale of Warm Groats

Groats, you ask? "What the devil is a groat," I can hear you say. Listen and I will educate you about the wonderfulness of groats. But first I'm going to tell you a story...
Once upon a time, I was in Seattle, venturing out alone for the day. I started off on the wrong foot by locking myself out of my friend's house and then missing the bus. I am not accustomed to city buses or bus schedules and such, being from a small town. So I sat on the curb and cried as it rained, like it does 80% of the time in Seattle. A little Asian man, who couldn’t speak a lick of English, stopped and spoke to me. I think he was saying comforting words, but after a minute, he went on his way. I decided to stop being a total wuss and walked to my destination: the Pike Place Market – a foodie’s playground.

When I finally got to the market, I was in much need of comforting. The clouds parted and the sun shone a beam of light on a little café called The Crumpet Shop. This was the definition of my kind of place. (Though I curse them for not having a website.)

I went inside and scoured the menu, making sure not to miss a single thing. A bowl of groats was an item on the breakfast list. The person in front of me in line ordered this strange food and having a curious tongue, I had to have some too. The girl behind the counter asked me what kind of milk I wanted, sweetened with brown sugar or honey, with or without dried black currants. (I didn’t know what currants were at the time, so I had to ask. I’ve since been a huge fan.)
I sat down with my warm, sloshy bowl and pretended to read a newspaper so as not to look lonely or without purpose. Although I was, indeed, lonely. This bowl of groats was comfort food like I had never tasted before. It washed away all of my homesickness and the chill from the Seattle rain. I longed to share this experience with friends and family back home, so I bought some uncooked groats to take with me. You can find groats in most natural food stores like Wild Oats, the Downtown Farm Stand, etc. I did not know this, or I wouldn't have walked around the market all day lugging a few extra pounds of groats.

Ok now, groats are “the hulled grains of various cereals, such as oats, wheat, barley, or buckwheat.” Thanks Wikipedia. They are basically uncut, unground, and not rolled like the grains we are used to. The groats that I received at The Crumpet Shop were oat groats. (ha, rhymes.)Back home I replicated this dish to the best of my ability. Here’s how I do it.
Ingredients: 1 cup of groats - Whichever type you find. I’m partial to the oat groats, 5 cups of water, pinch of salt, hot milk – steamed would be best, but I don’t have a steamer, sweetener of choice – I like the brown sugar, and some black currants – I don’t have any on hand right now, so I’m using dried blueberries.
Directions:Bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add salt and groats.

Simmer uncovered for about 40 minutes. (I never said that this was quick.)

Drain off liquid. I save my liquid to make bread from it. (The extra starch in the water feeds the yeast and makes them happy, in turn giving me happy bread.)
If you are only making this for one person, dish out a 1/2 cup or so of the cooked groats, and put the rest in the fridge. I do this all the time. It stays fresh for 3-4 days. You can save time by preparing the groats ahead to reheat and serve later.

Heat up 1 cup of milk for a single serving and add in your sweetener of choice. I like 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of honey.

I used the same pot from earlier. Sue me.

I like my groats just barely poking through the milk in my bowl. Garnish with some dried fruit. I’m telling you, The Crumpet Shop had it right with the black currants.

I hope you’ll give this recipe a try. It makes about 3 servings. It’s delicious and so good for you. Enjoy!

*Note* Bringing back another blog post. I liked this one, too.

Making noodles with Mom

This will be my last reposted blog entry. I wrote this one in February:

I helped my mom make her homemade noodles today. The recipe is from her 1974 Betty Crocker Cookbook.
It's awesomely vintage.

I took a photo of the recipe. See the bottom of the blog for an easier to read version.

She made the dough in her food processor. I'm not sure if she prefers mixing by hand or not. This was her first try in the food processor. Looks good to me.

Brother caught us in the act and stole my camera.

Rolling out and rolling over.

Thank goodness for electric knives.

Dump in a bowl...

...and toss in some flour. This is Mom's favorite part.

And it would be appropriate to have an after photo, when the pasta is cooked. I was too concerned with eating them. Mmmmm. This is the taste of home.

Homemade Egg Noodles a la Betty Crocker circa 1974

-2 cups all purpose flour

-3 egg yolks

-1 egg

-2 teaspoons salt

-1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Measure flour into bowl, make well in center and add egg yolks, egg, and salt. With hands thoroughly mix egg into flour. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time, mix thoroughly after each addition. (Add only enough water to form dough into a ball.)

Turn dough onto well-floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into four equal parts. Roll dough one part at a time, into paper thin rectangle, keeping remaining dough covered. Roll dough around rolling pin and slip out rolling pin. (Mom uses the flour and fold over method.)

Cut dough crosswise into 1/4 inch strips for wide noodles. Shake out strips and place on towel to dry - about two hours. (We skip this step all together. We plop them straight into water. They turn out thick and dumpling-esque. We like it that way.)

When dry, break dry strips into smaller pieces. Cook in three quarts of boiling salted water (one Tablespoon of salt) 12 to 15 minutes or until tender. Drain thoroughly.

Makes about 6 cups/10 ounces.

Yay Collaborative Blogging and Coffee Shops!

Just a happy note!

The Hot Cookie was/is on the front page of a very cool blog called Indie Fixx today. Jen, Miss Indie Fixx, asked us if we would like to partake in a new feature called Tasty Bits. We happily oblidged. Thanks, Jen! Thanks so much!

Our new flavor of the month is on our Etsy store now: Lemon Tarragon Sables. I'm in love!

The Hot Cookie has made it to our first coffee shop counter at Lazy Daze in Irvington. We fancied up our cookie display and filled it with freshly baked and packaged cookies.(We found it, cleaned it, painted it, made pillows and a sign for it. Only the best for our cookies.)

Some other nice folks at Edibles (a local/organic grocery store) in Irvington have begun to carry our gourmet cookies as well.

Woo hoo! The cookies are getting out! Thanks for all of the support as we grow!

Morning Ritual - Tea Time

My oh-so-sweet German friend, Katharina, granted my request to bring back many, many, many bags of tea. I am addicted to this certain brand of German tea - TeeGschwendner. I'm a total tea snob; I prefer to only drink this spectacular brand. When Karli and I were thinking about opening up a cafe, this is the tea that would have been served. Only the best for our customers. Anyways, there was an unexpected bag of tea in my package that was particularly note worthy.

Katharina snuck in this amazing organic, green, strawberry tea. It has WHOLE dehydrated strawberries. You can't get any more strawberry-y than that.

Look at those beautiful leaves plump out.

Here's the bag for the fancy strawberry tea. It's in German, so ... I have no idea what it says.

Ahhh, my tea stash is full again!!! I am contented. Happy sipping.

*Note* If this blog entry looks familiar, it's because it was on my old blog. I liked it enough to bring it back. Yay tea!

The Hot Cookie Girls at Midland Antiques

Can I say one thing first? WOW! Midland Sash and Door Inc. was a factory in downtown Indy. Now it is a HUGE and fantastic antique store. Karli and I have wanted to check it out for a long time. We found an excuse (searching for a cookie display rack) and let ourselves roam wild in this well preserved, squeaky wood floored factory. There were isles and isles of booths. As well as a second floor to boot! Look at this cute deco clock! I want one!

I don't know what this is or what it was used for, but it was beautiful - and sold.

We were blown away by the two matching Chinese medicine chests. I liked the hanging pots/utensils above the old stove.

We saw a couple of butcher's tables. I would love to have a beefy work table like that, but for doughs and such.
The staging in some of the booths were really well done. This one looks so cozy.

This is a corn huller. Karli wanted it in her house. It would make an unusual side table.

This is a bronze cast made from a mold that was designed for one of Frank Lloyd Wright's houses. Super cool!

I love old maps. Russia was eating up Eastern Europe on this 1964 school map.

"Somebody bought the cheese sign!" exclaims Karli. The woman loves her cheese. She should be the rightful owner of the sign.

A telephone desk. Remember when people would sit down and have a complete conversation instead of doing a million other things while on the phone? No? Me either.

I would love to have a lab desk for my work table. Karli and I both had flashbacks from high school science class while in this booth. I spilled iodine on the one at my school. The stain is probably still there.

Leaded glass windows galore! I would love to have a big one as a headboard on my bed, or anywhere else in my house. They are so cool!

Glorious old fashioned packaging. That must have been some scrumptious ice cream for someone to save the pint for so many years.

Karli's sippin' on a "martini" in the factory's vault. It would have made a sweet party pad. The vault booth was decked out in 1960's gear.

Sweet, sweet table and chair set in the vault.

Why can't dinner and drink parties be more common now? I want to be a hostess like those in the 50's. Atomic Cocktail anyone?

We flipped over these type set letter stamps. (Or however you call them.) We played with them for a good 10 minutes.

Oh, and this table! It has no nails, screws, or glue. My grandpa would appreciate the craftsmanship. It was absolutely beautiful, and on SALE! If only I had a place to put it.

This would be in our The Hot Cookie store if we had one. It would be in the front window - a little less cluttered and loaded up with cookies.

An entire ROW of WOODEN file cabinets! Why did we switch to metal?

We got a good laugh at this last item. It's a fainting chair for dolls. You know that every spoiled rich girl had one of these in the early 1900's. Barbie ain't got nothing on those dolls with a fainting chair.

In conclusion, we found a perfect display rack. After a bit of paint and some cushions it will be perfect. Pictures will probably be taken and a blog to follow. Yeahoo!

Food Escape - Issue #1

I think I have figured out why I love to eat and go out to eat and talk about food and eat some more. I dream of lunch while I'm clearing the breakfast table. It's sickening, but I've found the reason behind the madness. It's because food is my escape. I LOVE to travel, but that habit is expensive! So I get my mini vacations at meal times. The best mini vacations are when I go to a restaurant for the first time. I love to find the hole-in-the-wall eateries that only locals know about. When out on a road trip or when I'm just a different part of the city, it's a pet peeve of mine to never go to chain restaurants. I don't want to go to P.F.Chang's, goombah! I've got one of those on my side of town. Give me something new. I'm always in the mood for new. Food is an adventure, or it should be at least.



Alrighty, after that little tiff, on to the point. I'm going to blog about my various experiences at new/favorite restaurants. It's fun for me, and I hope it will be fun for you.



During my last trip to Lafayette to visit my fantastic friend, Natalie - who has since moved to Japan. Hummbug. - I tried out a new-to-me eatery. (Natalie is well aware of my foodie pet peeve. Bless her.) We went to a nifty, cavernous pub called The Black Sparrow. It had a fun, dark ambiance. It made me feel pirate-y.

Natalie suggested that I try out the Cuban Sandwich, a favorite of her father's. It was my first Cuban sandwich, although a not so authentic one, as Natalie informed me. This one had French bread. Therefore it was a French-Cuban sandwich. Who do they think we are? A little respect please. :)

Because this was our last meal together (for awhile) we got fancy and ordered a drink. It was called the Iron Cross. I wanted to get it because I'd never had a cocktail that had egg white in it. It also had Pisco brandy, orange flower water, lemon, simple syrup, and grapefruit bitters (whatever those are.) I think Natalie was a bit off put by the egg white. It was tasty, though.

Changing it up a bit, I had a delightful lunch with my mom earlier this week. We often meet for lunch at The Legend in Irvington. Their food is so fresh and delicious. Mom got a refreshing sandwich with cucumber, guacamole, spring lettuce, and mozzarella on rosemary bread. Can't leave out the PILE of steamed sugar snap peas. Yum!

I was very happy with the make-your-own salad. I got a spring mix salad with Gruyere, balsamic vinegar, and The Legend's famous sauteed chicken. I don't normally go for chicken, but I will at this place. Holy cow!

Every once in a while I will try to get over disliking certain foods. Cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, etc. I TRY. I REALLY TRY to like these foods. They are so nutritious and look very appetizing, but it just doesn't work out for me. Cherry tomato, you are just too darn cute, but my tongue doesn't agree.

Until next time, bonne aventure!