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4th O'July Flag Cake

2007-08-03T03:47:50Z

Fourth of July Flag Cake
Originally uploaded by ninetreats

Cream cheese frosting, fresh raspberries and blueberries, and a cake that my wife think tastes like sugar cookies. The recipe actually come from Ina Garten in the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Although it requires some adjusting to cook properly at the altitude where I live.

This followed only days after finishing my cousin's wedding cake, finishing and intense spot of cake making.

I'm still recovering. And avoiding the kitchen.

Finished Wedding Cake

2007-08-03T03:43:32Z

Finished Wedding Cake
Originally uploaded by ninetreats

And the final product. The colors were lime green and shades of blue. Thanks to my wife's efforts I was able to add a perfecting coordinated ribbon at the bottom of each layer. This is how it was presented at the reception.

Husband and Wife

2007-08-03T03:41:57Z

Husband and Wife
Originally uploaded by ninetreats

This is what greeted me as I delivered the cake and all the other guests as they came to the reception to honor the bride and groom. If you hadn't guessed, my uncle is an artist. And a good one.

I took this picture to show the colors of choice for the evening. The cake I made was designed to match this color theme.

Wedding cake - in process

2007-08-03T03:39:20Z

Wedding cake - in process
Originally uploaded by ninetreats

One of my few remaining unmarried cousins got married last month. As a wedding present for her, I offered to make her wedding cake. Actually I offered it via her parents, without letting her know. It was a surprise on the day wedding. She didn't know she was getting it.

At this point the cake is covered in fondant and ready for the final decoration. I stopped to take a picture alongside the picture that was in her announcement. I think I came pretty close to matching her choice of green.

Small Bird-day Cake

2007-06-06T12:23:33Z

Small Bird-day Cake
Originally uploaded by ninetreats

The small one. This is companion to the large bird cake.

Bird-day Cakes - Small and Large

2007-06-06T12:14:41Z

Bird-day Cake
Originally uploaded by ninetreats

A few months ago some good friends called and asked me to do a birthday cake for them. My instructions were that the theme was birds and the colors were white, pink and brown.

This is what I came up with for the main cake, although I can't take credit for the adornment on top, I only did the cake. I also created a small cake to accompany it, in the same color scheme, but with the birthday girl's initials on it.

They said they were happy with it. That makes me happy.

Banana Monkey Cake

2007-06-05T03:24:36Z

Full cake
Originally uploaded by ninetreats

Lately, my daughter and I have been watching a lot of Ace of Cakes on the Food Network. It is all about a bakery in Baltimore, MD that makes really cool cakes.

My daughter asked me if I could copy one of their cakes for her birthday and this is the result. Not as good as the original version, but I was pleased nonetheless, considering I had to make my own fondant, don't own an airbrush and have to work all my cake making in around my paying job and other activities.

We'll have to see what my son requests now for his birthday later this summer.

Emigration Market's wood-fired pizza

2007-05-11T03:11:56Z

Several months ago my brother and I went to Emigration Market. It is a neighborhood grocery store in Salt Lake City on the corner of 1700 S and 1300 S. It has obviously been there for quite awhile. It is a pretty typical market, but you can tell they have started to take up the trend of local and artisan made products. Along with all their typical grocery items they feature a lot of Utah produced products. And their bakery seemed to be a step above a typical grocery bakery. The thing that piqued my interest was some signs they had up advertising a restaurant that they were building in front of the store. It had claims of wood-fired pizza and other things. And then I kind of forgot about it. map ]]>

Big City Pizza?

2007-04-10T19:54:06Z

Last fall I wrote my impressions of Big City Soup. It was good then. I have been back several times since then. It is still good. They have figured out how to make soup. But I write today with both trepidation and excitement. ]]> main location for Big City Soup and noticed a sign that they have posted in the window next door to their current spot. It said:

Big City Pizza Coming in April

So, my trepidation for fear they will lose the focus on making good soup, and my excitement that there is another local, non-franchised pizza place opening here. A visit is in order once they've actually opened their doors.

new Google My Maps tool

2007-04-05T17:25:15Z

Google just announced a new tool today that let's users create customized maps using their Google Maps product. I've been playing around with, using it to create a custom map that shows all the different places that I write food reviews about. For the small group of readers that end up on this blog, you can now see a map view of all the places I write about. Interestingly enough, it allows me to edit the tag for each point I put on the map, so not only can you see all the places on the map, but when you click on it, if I have a picture of it that I've taken, that will show up and I've also included a link back to whatever I had to say about it. Some people just learn better using visual tools, so this is for all of you... blog.ninetreats map

East Coast Subs

2007-03-22T18:54:12Z

...recently opened very close to where I work. I had initially intended to wait several weeks before my first visit. Unfortunately circumstances arose that required me to get a quick lunch one day during their opening week and its convenience factor overrode my intentions. I walk past it at least twice a day coming to work and going home from work, so I've been watching the progress ever since they put their "Coming Soon" sign up several months ago. Shortly after the first "Coming Soon" sign went up I tried to find out more about it, which was not that easy. Point 1: do what you need to to make your business easy to find online. When I finally did find them it was on another site like CitySearch or one of many local directory sites where you are in essence part of a big online phone directory. A lot of these sites provide the opportunity for people to post reviews or comments about a business and provide some kind of rating. When a business does this they are letting the conversation and perception of their business reside in someone else's control. There will never be a way to prevent reviews about your business showing up online, but if you at least have your own site on the web, you can present your side of the story, without that you aren't even part of the conversation.

Point 2: Always tell your side of the story, somewhere, preferably on a web site you control. Fortunately for East Coast Subs, most of the reviews were positive and it sounded like they had a customer base that likes there product and continues to come back and eat there. So at this point I had some anticipation and was looking forward to trying it. Again, I really wanted to give them a few weeks to get the operational kinks worked out, but ended eating there the second or third day they were open. The experience overall was good, but now that I've been there a couple times since they've opened I've noticed the same problem both times. Their ordering process involves someone on staff greeting you at the counter to get the particulars of your order. The way they do this is on a laminated card. It has several lines on it and on each line the staff writes the name of your sandwich down and then checks off the different toppings you either want or don't want on the sandwich. The problem I've noticed both times is that each sandwich has a different set of standard toppings listed on their menu and so each time I've ordered, the person taking my order has had to refer to a separate cheat sheet and the custom-tailor the questions they ask me about which toppings I want on my sandwich. Just adds a little confusion to the process.

Point 3: If I ever own a sandwich shop, standardize the topping list for every sandwich and then the staff only has to deal with exceptions (or provide a lot of training on the products). On both my visits the food has been good and other than the slightly confusing order process, everything else has been good. I will continue to eat there, because ultimately, restaurants are all about the food and processes can always be improved or changed. East Coast Subs about 67 East Broadway (300 S.) Salt Lake City, UT 84111 ]]>

Carl's Jr. - on the six-year banned list

2007-02-19T22:49:53Z

Carl's Jr. is the restaurant that inspired the list. Two major reasons it's on the list: 1) Their TV commercials, which more often than not I find offensive and which never create any kind of desire on my part to visit Carl's Jr. 2) After several visits in the last year or so the food has been so poor tasting and so poorly prepared that they are the inaugural member of the list. Technically they were put on the list in 2006, so my next visit will be sometime in 2012.

Settebello Napoletana Pizza

2007-02-19T22:41:34Z

I caught the smell of wood smoke half a block away as I was walking to this new little pizza place in downtown Salt Lake. My visit this week was the result of another walk I had taken on a week or two earlier. Most afternoons I need some time to get out of my office and stretch my legs out and breath some fresh air. I am usually surprised at how much ground I can cover walking around downtown Salt Lake on a 15 minute break from work. A week or so ago as I was heading home from work, driving past one of my favorite downtown restaurants, Red Rock Brewery, and I noticed a very unassuming new sign painted along the top edge of the brick building immediately south of Red Rock. At the time, being in the car, I couldn't really figure out what it was, but you could see the chairs and tables through the windows. Several days later, that chance sighting turned my feet in that direction while I was out for a quick walk one afternoon. Walking past, I had one more piece to the puzzle. The name on the sign -- Settebello. Back in my office I did a quick search for Settebello online and could only find a web site for a pizza restaurant outside of Las Vegas in Henderson. No mention of another location, not even a coming soon teaser. That same evening as my brother drove out of town on our way home, I drove past the place again to show it to him and this time there was a big white banner strung across the trees in front of the restaurant. It was simple and to the point, black letters on a white background proclaiming "Wood-fired Pizza, Now Open." The was all I needed. Wood, fire and pizza all in the same context and I'm sold. That was last week. www.settebello.net]]>

In Queue: Rock Creek Pizza Co.

2006-12-18T18:28:46Z

Just heard about this one. I always like to support local business. Rock Creek Pizza Co. 10255 South 1300 East Sandy, UT 801-572-1717 www.rockcreekpizzaco.com

The Chimi Project: Red Iguana

2006-11-15T15:43:32Z

For eating Mexican food, the Red Iguana is a landmark in Salt Lake City. Whenever a discussion about where to get good Mexican food occurs, it will always get a mention. When I figured out that it had chimichangas on their menu, we put it on the list of places we needed to evaluate as part of our ongoing Chimi project.

Suprisingly, due to the distance between my house and the Red Iguana it has been many years since I've eaten there. Fortunately, the ideal opportunity presented itself recently and we made a visit.]]> www.rediguana.com