So yesterday, my darling friend Jane drove 'round the beltway and beyond to visit me here in Annapolis. Our original plan was to go to
Reynolds Tavern, my favorite place for traditional afternoon tea. They have an amazing selection of teas from around the world, as well as the most delicious cakes, scones, and cookies that are all made on the premises. But, I was also dying to make the cookies I talked about in my last blog. It was the perfect opportunity! Her birthday is next week, so I decided to make her a few sweet treats that we could enjoy with tea. As planned, I did make the
pecan snowballs and
glazed lemon cookies. In addition, I also made these
napoleons that I had seen
here a while back,
gingersnaps, and a very simple chocolate orange torte that I actually took from the back of a $2.50 box of
Ghirardelli Ultimate Fudge Brownie mix (see recipe below). To balance out the sweet with a little savory, I also had a rustic sourdough baguette with some coarse grain mustard, and a small cheese assortment from my local
Whole Foods. Jane brought a lovely bottle of port that went nicely with the spread.
After catching up over all the goodies, we went downtown to walk around , and see the holiday decorations. I was excited, because I had really explored downtown in quite a while. It was COLD by the water, but we did see some good holiday finds. First, we stopped at
Hats in the Belfry. I was impressed, they had definitely done an overhaul of their inventory and brought in some really nice hats! Plus, they have a huge selection of
Life is Good items, if you're a fan. We also checked out
Paradigm,
A.L. Goodies General Store, which is always good for some fun tourist-y type things, and these huge homemade chocolate chip cookies and fudge that are made throughout the day, and of course,
Pet Paws Boutique -- a must if you're shopping for that special dog or cat in your life. New to Main Street is
YoFiore (which
apprears not to have a website), a
Pinkberry-ish type frozen yogurt themed eatery. It looks
delish, but it was far too
cold!
I want all of these wrapping papers from Paper Source...Once we had made our way through historic downtown Annapolis, we decided to head to the shiny, new
Annapolis Towne Centre at Parole. I was dying to check out the new
Paper Source AND
Anthropologie within walking distance of my apartment!! These two stores never disappoint, and my Christmas wish list (some of which I plan to post later this week) got a little bit longer... Spending time with Jane is always a pleasure, and needless to say, it was a great day.
*** Edit after the fact...
I forgot to post the Chocolate Orange Torte recipe! If you like chocolate, this is a quick, easy and inexpensive idea. So here it is as promised:
Chocolate Orange Torte (adapted)
1 box of Ghirardelli Ultimate Fudge Brownie Mix (1 pouch mix and 1 pouch fudge topping)
1/4 cup of water
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In medium bowl, blend together brownie mix, water, oil, egg, and orange zest until moistened (about 40 strokes). Spoon batter into parchment lined or greased, 8-inch round cake pan. Bake 40-45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and invert onto serving plate. Warm fudge topping as directed in the original brownie recipe on the back of the box. Cut top off of pouch and squeeze onto warm torte. Gently smooth over top and sides of torte. Makes 12-16 servings.
Posts
