HIMYM's Best Burger in New York

How I Met Your Mother has to be one of the best shows on TV right now. So imagine how happy I was to see last night's episode, a virtual love letter to Chowhound? Marshall (and, inexplicably, Regis Philbin) search for the perfect burger in New York.

It's all here, everything that makes this show great - the writing ("I said I don't like Chinese"), the facial expressions (Marshall clearly in love with the burger), the little things you barely even see (like Robin licking the glue off the deposit envelope out of hunger). Plus, the episode dispensed with Ted's search for the Mother of the title and instead focused on the group of friends (the thing that truly makes the show great).

Whether you like food, the chowhounding process, HIMYM, or just good comedy, definitely give this episode a watch.

Geeky Pie Chart Humor

I love GraphJam, especially when there are food-related posts (see here and here).

Cheap Eats: Aceituna Cafe

Aceituna is a Spanish word for olive, and considering the use of olives and olive oil in Mediterranean cuisine, it's a perfect name for Aceituna Cafe in Kendall Square. The restaurant features Lebanese and Mediterranean food hot and fast.

The menu at Aceituna Cafe has lots of options, mostly under $10, ranging from pita roll-ups to heartier entrees with meat, rice and salad. The real deals, though, are in the vegetarian plate and the combo specials. The vegetarian plate has a choose-3 option ($7.79) and a choose-5 option ($9.79), although three choices provides plenty of food. Try the tabboule, predominantly made of finely chopped parsley and served in heaping scoops, or the falafel, large, crunchy, heavily spiced patties with a more chunky texture than at most falafel restaurants. Other choices include hummus, babaghannouge, rice with lentils, grape leaves, and couscous salad. If sandwiches are more your speed, try the combo specials, featuring fries, a soda, and a falafel roll-up ($7.25) or a chicken or beef shawarma roll-up ($8.75).

Aceituna Cafe is located at 605 West Kendall Street in Cambridge. Hours are Monday through Friday, 11am to 8pm.

Originally posted on Bostonist.

Pumpkin and Spicy Cheddar Souffle

I'm not usually one to make recipes found in advertisements for brand-name products. But when I saw the ad for Cabot's Pumpkin and Habanero Cheddar Souffles in a magazine, I couldn't wait to give them a shot. Nothing says Fall quite like pumpkins, and these seemed like the perfect way to start the season. Luckily, I already had some of Cabot's 50% Light Jalapeno Cheddar at home, so all I had to do was pick up some mini pumpkins.

Before finding this recipe, I would never had thought to cook with mini pumpkins. We're talking about the tiny little things that can be found with the other small ornamental squashes. I didn't even consider how much flesh was actually in them. But each pumpkin has about half a cup of meat to it - good eats! And very easy to deal with!

Pumpkin and Spicy Cheddar Souffle
4 mini pumpkins
2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
2 tsp flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
2 ounces spicy cheddar (I like Cabot's 50% Light Jalapeno Cheddar), finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350°. Place pumpkins in shallow baking dish and add water about halfway up the sides of the pumpkins. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool.

Reheat oven to 375°. With a paring knife, remove tops from pumpkins. Remove seeds and scoop out flesh, leaving about 1/4-inch-thick walls. Place pumpkin meat in a bowl. Add egg yolks, flour, baking powder, and cheese, and mix well. Whip egg whites into stiff peaks, then fold gently into the pumpkin mixture. Spoon mixture into the pumpkin shells. Place on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until puffed and starting to brown.

Cheap Eats: Crazy Dough's Pizza

Pizza is a quintessential cheap eat, and Crazy Dough's Pizza has a wider variety of toppings to choose from than usual. The counters are always spread with tons of gourmet pies in both thin crust and Sicilian-style, like the potato bacon cheddar, the buffalo chicken and bacon, and the rueben.

Crazy Dough's also has some great specials that help you keep the costs down. A personal-sized (9-inch) pizza, paired with a soda, goes for as little as $4, and it's definitely big enough for a meal. For a few dollars more, you can have the gourmet toppings on your personal pizza. The crust (white or wheat) is super thin and gets a nice crunch to it in the oven. Two slices and a soda are a comparable price. And if you're still thirsty, you can get $1 drafts or $4 pitchers of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Crazy Dough's Pizza has two locations, at 1124 Boylston Street in Boston (near the Hynes T stop) and at 36 JFK Street in Harvard Square (in the Garage).

Originally posted on Bostonist.

Mmmm Ciao Bella

God, what a gorgeous day! It was the perfect day for wandering around Harvard Square and free ice cream!

I finally managed to stop by the Ciao Bella truck in Harvard Square on their final day in town. They were giving out scoops of five different flavors - vanilla gelato, pistachio gelato, maple ginger snap gelato, blood orange sorbetto, and blackberry cabernet sorbetto. I snagged tastes of both the pistachio and the blackberry cabernet and was blown away by both. I shouldn't have been surprised - the blood orange (the only flavor I've purchased before) is unbelievably, intensely flavorful, and these flavors were no slouches, either. The pistachio actually tasted like the nut (and thankfully, was not bright green), and the pistachios in the mix were still crunchy! The blackberry cabernet started out with a rich wine-taste, and the berry intensity grew over time.

One thing I particularly like about Ciao Bella (especially the sorbet) is that the quality is amazing, and it actually helps with portion control. I know, sounds weird, but hear me out - with such intense flavors, I feel so satisfied with a good scoop (and not the whole pint). This is truly a dessert worth savoring.

Blood orange is still my favorite... but I guess that means I'll just have to keep trying more flavors.

Apple Season

Apple season is here now! Hopefully, apple picking will be in my near future, but for now, I have to sustain myself off Gala apples from the supermarket (since class on farmers market day has really cramped my style).

While visiting a much nicer supermarket than my local, I found these little cups of Marzetti caramel - perfect for apple dipping! They're just the right amount for a good-sized apple, and the individual cups are awesome for throwing into my bag to take to school. I have five more left... let's see if they last until that aforementioned apple picking happens...