Local eats- Swizzle Inn

Last night, I had planned to take Amari to Harbour Nights but it got cancelled due to rain that lasted about five minutes.
So I had to come up with a backup plan since I promised him a night out.
Enter Swizzle Inn.
Amari loves to eat here and regularly says it's his favourite place.
The food is usually good so I don't mind eating there.
And the Swizzle is fantastic.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Swizzle, it is a pub with a pub menu.
It attracts as many tourists as locals.
There is a downstairs and upstairs, both have outdoor dining.
They are known of course for their swizzle but also burgers, wings, pizzas and more importantly, nachos.

Ah, Barbecue Chicken Nachos.
I order these every single time I come here.
And they are perfect every single time.
They come with chicken, barbecue sauce, a mix of cheeses, jalapenos, tomatoes, black bean and corn salsa, sour cream and scallions.
This is the junior size, a bargain for $9.75 considering how massive the plate is.
I usually eat about 3/4 of this plate, unapologetically :)

Amari always gets one of two things: pizza and fries or chicken nuggets and fries.
Last night, he chose pizza.
He also got a fruit punch.
He said the food was yummy but he only are half the pizza so who knows.
I think he just likes being in a restaurant where he can make noise :)

We went to Double Dip after and got chocolate and vanilla soft serve in two cones. 

Yum!

Amari's cookies

I call these Amari's cookies after my beautiful son, Amari.

He looks quite grumpy here but anyways, back to the cookies.

These cookies were actually an accident.
Last Sunday, I was craving chocolate chip cookies, a reoccuring thing for me.
I always have stuff in the house to bake so I headed to the kitchen and popped out a stick of butter to soften.
Once I started pulling everything together, I realised I had no brown sugar.
What was I to do?!
It was pouring rain so I had no desire to go to the store but I really wanted cookies.
So I figured I would use white sugar with my usual recipe and see how they turned out.
And they turned out soo good!
My normal recipe is based off Elizabeth Faulkner's, a pastry chef who comes on Food Network regularly.

The white sugar gave them a crackly-ness that brown sugar doesn't give to cookies.
They weren't incredibly gooey, but they were amazing and tasted quite similar to Pepperidge Farm Brussels cookies.

After I made them, Amari told me I couldn't give them to anyone except him.
He said I could have some if I wanted :)

So let's get started.
Here is what we need:

one stick softened butter, 1 1/4 cup sugar, one large egg, one teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, one teaspoon salt, 1 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, one cup chocolate chips, one cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 then cream the butter and sugar for about two minutes, being careful not to overmix.

Add the egg, vanilla and salt, mixing until just combined.

Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder and mix on low until combined.

Finally, add the chocolate chips and mix on low until combined, this will take less than 10 seconds.

Doesn't that look soo good!
You know I licked the mixing thing and the bowl afterwards :)

Spray a cookie sheet with Pam and then scoop out dough using a cookie scoop or small ice cream scoop.
You can also use parchment paper to eliminate the Pam.

Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pan after 7 minutes.

Let cool on cookie sheet for about a minute then move to a rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container and more importantly, enjoy!

Amari's Cookies

Ingredients
one stick of softened butter
1 1/4 cup of white sugar
one teaspoon vanilla bean pasta or vanilla extract
one large egg
one teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
one cup chocolate chips
one cup white chocolate chips

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 then cream butter and sugar for two minutes.
2. Add egg, vanilla and salt and mix until just combined.
3. Stir in flour, baking soda and baking powder, mixing on low until combined.
4. Add chocolate chips and mix until combined, less than 10 seconds.
5. Spray a cookie sheet with Pam and using a cookie scoop, scoop out dough onto sheet, about 12 cookies at a time.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating pan after 7 minutes.
7. Once baked, cool on cookie sheet for a minute then transfer to a wire rack until cooled.
8. Store in airtight container.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ah, pizza.
Possibly my single favourite thing to eat ever.
I know I've said that about mac and cheese and I will probably say it about mushroom risotto, filet mignon with mash potatoes and fried fish with french fries, but seriously, I love pizza!

I started out like many just eating cheese pizza and it still remains my favourite but I've managed to branch out.
One of my favourite pizzas is the Vegetali Pizza from La Trattoria here in Bermuda.
It's a very thin crust pizza topped with roasted vegetables.
It is completely amazing and gooey and yummy.

The first time I had BBQ chicken pizza was at California Pizza Chicken in Natick Mall in Massachusetts.
We would go there at least once a month to do shopping when I lived in Massachusetts as a teenager with my mom, brother and sister.
I loved those outings because it automatically meant eating at CPK which was almost just as good as eating at Cheesecake Factory.
Anyways, this pizza has stuck with me and it's my favourite to make at home.

I usually make pizza when I have no idea what I feel like eating but need to pull something together quickly.
This is more of a method rather than a recipe.
I forgot to take a photo of the ingredients, but here is what we need: 1 tube of refrigerated pizza crust (or homemade when I have time), 1 bag pizza cheese, 1/2 cup of your favourite barbecue sauce, leftover chicken breast, thinly sliced onions.

Open the can of dough and roll out of on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.
Make sure you push it as close as possible to the edges of the pan to ensure a thin crust.
Prebake for eight minutes.

Meanwhile, slice an onion thinly.
Use as much or as little as you like.

Once the dough is ready, put about 1/2 a cup of barbecue sauce on the pizza and spread it to the edges.

Top pizza with cheese, then chopped chicken and onions.
If you don't have any chicken cooked, roast or grill a chicken breast seasoned with salt and pepper and give it a rough dice.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

I prebaked my crust a bit too long so the edges are a bit dark but of course, I dont mind.
Anything gooey and cheesy is good in my book :)

Enjoy!

Barbecue Chicken Pizza
1 pizza crust or refrigerated pizza dough
1 bag pizza cheese
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
left over chicken breast, chopped
thin slices of onion

Instructions
1. Roll out pizza dough onto cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.
2. Press out as close to the edges as it can go.
3. Prebake crust in 425 degree oven for 8 minutes.
4. Once out of oven, top with barbecue sauce then cheese, chicken and onions.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese and bubbly and crust is brown.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Hmmm.....Red Velvet cupcakes....where do I begin?
As I said before, I bake for a cafe and do special orders from time to time.
Yesterday, I baked up four dozen cupcakes for this woman's 50th birthday party...red velvet, carrot, vanilla bean stuffed with chocolate ganache and dark and stormy, a take on our national drink.

I decided to blog about the red velvet because they are by far my most popular request.
Maybe it's something about the colour, the little bit of chocolate or the delicious creamy icing.
Whatever it is, people love red velvet.

My recipe is quite simple but tasty and makes 24 cupcakes.

Here is what we need.

2 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 1 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup buttermilk, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon red gel food colour, 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add all the wet ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until combined.

Add dry ingredients and mix on slow until combined.

I forgot to take photos until everything was already mixed.

Use a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop the batter into the lined cupcake tins.

Bake for 20 to 22 and let cool on a wire rack.

Again, I forgot to take pictures!

When the cupcake have cooled, frost with cream cheese icing ( 1 stick butter, one block of cream cheese, 2 to 3 cups powdered sugar).

Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon red gel food colour
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Combine wet ingredients in mixing bowl and mix on medium-high speed until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients and mix on slow speed until combined.
5. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, scoop into lined cupcake tin.
6. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes.
7. Let cool in tin for 5 to 10 minutes and put on wire rack.
8. When completely cooled, frost with cream cheese icing.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Bermudian-Style Potato Salad

Ah, potato salad.
I love potato salad.
In the summer, I could probably eat it everyday if it wasn't so damn fattening!
But seriously, potato salad made well gets me everytime.
I grew up on my mom's potato salad which is still the best to me.
I've tried many different varieties and I still come back to my mommy's potato salad.

This recipe is pretty similar to hers with my own twist on it.
The main difference is that I season and mix my potato salad while the potatoes are warm because they will soak up much more flavour that way.
It's a simple but delicious recipe and has everything I love about potato salad in it.

I made this for a boat I'm going out on tomorrow.
It's funny because I didn't have any potato salad over the Cup Match weekend which is practically a sin.
I will definitely make up for it tomorrow.

So let's go.
Here is what we need.

Jane's crazy mix-up salt(or another salt mix), onion powder, garlic salt, seasoning salt, pepper, two eggs, a tablespoon of flat-leaf parsley, half a 5lb bag of potatoes, mayonaise and peas(I forgot to put them in the picture).

I know it sounds like a lot of salt but you really just need to season to taste, that't why there are no measurements.
I really like the combination of the three salts.

You can also add fresh dill and a squirt or so of yellow mustard for tang.
I usually do both but the grocery store didn't have dill and when I got home, I realised I had no mustard.

Peel and dice the potatoes and put in a pot of cold water over high heat.

Add the eggs after a few minutes.

When the potatoes are fork tender, about 10 minutes or so, drain and put in a bowl.

While they are still warm, season with the various seasonings to taste.

While the potatoes are cooling, chop about a tablespoon of fresh parsley and add to bowl.

Add about a cup of mayonnaise, the peas and grated egg to the bowl.

Mix together and taste.

Add more salt/pepper and mayonnaise if needed.

It's best to let this sit in the fridge overnight to let the flavours develop more.

And there you have it, a nice bowl of delicious, comforting potato salad.

I can eat it straight from the bowl by the spoonful, but I should restrain myself since it is potato salad after all :)

Enjoy!

Bermudian-Style Potato Salad

Ingredients
Jane's mix-up salt

onion powder

garlic salt

seasoning salt

pepper

two eggs

tablespoon flat-leaf parsley

half a 5lb bag of potatoes

1 cup mayonnaise(add more if needed)

1/4 cup peas

Instructions

1. Peel and dice potatoes.

2. Put in a pot of cold water and boil on high heat until fork tender.

3. Add the eggs half way through. 

4. Once cooked, put potatoes in a bowl and season to taste while still hot. 

5. Chop a tablespoon of flat leaf parsley and add to bowl. 

6. Grate eggs and add to bowl along with mayonnaise and peas. 

7. Mix together and taste. 

8. Add more salt/pepper and mayonnaise if needed. 

Cup Match Time In Bermuda!!!

 Photo courtesy Akil Simmons

I LOVE Cup Match week in Bermuda.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, it's a two-day cricket game held either the last Thursday and Friday in July or the first Thursday and Friday in August.
To sum it it up in one word, it's AMAZING!

The festivities start on Wednesday evening.
This year, our fun started with a happy hour cruise aboard the Uber Vida.
It was fab.

This is Alia, Chetna and I on the boat.
It was a birthday party for the Ramsay twins, Jaime and Jereme who were turning 30.
It was the best cruise I've been on all summer.
Great vibes, great people and great music.

Once we got off the boat close to 11pm, we headed to Barr's Park to see the Collie Buddz show which was fantastic.
This is my friend Nadia and I.

Photo courtesy Glenn Tucker

The show started with a set by New York-based reggae band New Kingston who killed it.

Collie Buddz also known as Colin Harper followed with much applause from the crowd.
He is a Bermudian artist and we all love him :)
Unfortunately I don't have access to any photos from the show...damn copyright!
But here's a pic of Buddz in case you don't know.

I must add here that I drank an insane amount of rum swizzle on Wednesday night.
Rum Swizzle is the perfect summer drink made of pineapple juice, orange juice, Gosling's Black Seal Rum (Bermuda's most famous export), Gold Rum and grenadine.

So refreshing and amazing, but something I rarely drink cuz I'm a vodka girl.
Needless to say, I was hungover the next day for Beach Fest!

 Photo courtesy Akil Simmons

Ah, Beach Fest, a great great day!
Basically we all head to the beach and stay all day drinking, partying, dancing and chilling out in the water.
There are hundreds of people as shown in the photo.
Again, I drank copious amounts of Swizzle!

But the Cup Match weekend wouldn't be complete without a trip to the game, it is called Cup Match after all.
My team didn't win but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself and had a ball!
Again, more Swizzle.
It's important to try out different people's version of the drink.
At the game I had three different kinds.
The best was  from the Swizzle King's stall.
We also ate fried fish from St David's Seafood and french fries, my fav things to eat at the game!

Later that night we headed to Soca vs Reggae.
I was a judge this year.
Here I am with Shal Marshall, the soca artist for the event and a really cool guy.

And for my review of the show, click here.

The final fun day of the weekend belongs to Sunday, better known as Non-Mariners.
Hundreds of boats raft up in Mangrove Bay and it is a blast.
Last year I did a big party boat for 60 people.
This year, I kept it simple by going on my friend Shannon's boat.
I think there were 12 of us.
Much, much better.

All in all, it was a great weekend.
I can't wait until next year!

local eats

I love to eat out.
I can't remember if I've said this before but I really do.
I don't always go out for a full meal, sometimes just tapas and drinks.

On Monday night, my girlfriend Kelly and I decided to do just that.
Amari is in England and her two daughters are in Toronto so we had no responsibilities :)
So we decided to head down to Taste 141 in Seon Place for a fabulous meal of starters.

We like taste for three reasons: 1. Chef Tammy Jones is amazing. 2. Her food is outstanding. 3. Kia, the bartender equals a night or lunch of pure entertainment!

We requested a martini that wasn't too sweet, was vodka based and a touch tart.
I have no idea what was in that glass but it was damn good.
That's Kelly's hand in the way!

These are Tammy's fish tacos.
There are soo good and make me very happy.
It's fried fish with fresh pico de gallo and some kind of spicy cream sauce underneath.
Amazing and very light.

I know you want to know what this is.
It's called Mozza Mia, basically a ball of mozzarella cheese covered in a balsamic reduction, olive oil, red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper.
It was sooo good.
I don't usually go for mozzarella, I'm more of a Brie, Goat's or Havarti girl.
I like a creamy cheese but this was to die for.

It came with crostini.
Simple but yummy.

This is bacon jam.
Yes, I said bacon jam.
I don't normally eat pork but when the bacon comes out and the smell hits your nose, you have to eat it.
I've been coming to Taste since it opened in January and hadn't tried to jam.
Chef Tammy remedied that quickly!

So needless to say, I adore the food at Taste.
It's simple, rustic, well executed food that always makes me incredibly happy.
Plus Chef Tammy is the coolest cook I know.
Check them out for breakfast, lunch or drinks and tapas after work :)