use real butter

We’re back on Pearl Street for this week’s sandwich – a panini caldi (hot sandwich) from Frasca’s Caffè. Caffè is an unassuming little space wedged between Pizzeria Locale (also part of Frasca’s dominion) and The Pinyon just east of the Pearl Street pedestrian mall. It’s easy to miss as you walk past, but I’m here to tell you it would be a mistake to miss it. Caffè serves up Italian pastries, breakfasts, cookies, caffeine, beverages, soups, and of course, sandwiches.

frasca’s caffè on east pearl street

menu on the wall

I went straight for the hot paninis, trying a few different offerings. It was a tough call picking just one sandwich to showcase because they’re all pretty amazing. Jeremy and I narrowed it down to three favorites: the Polpetta (meatball – Jeremy’s favorite), the Manzo (roast beef – just incredible), and the Italiano (prosciutto and salami). Ultimately, I had to make the hard decision.

the italiano panini caldi

To the sandwich: For $8.95 you get a hot-pressed sandwich layered with savory prosciutto, salami, mortadella, melted provolone, crispy shredded lettuce, and tangy, crunchy pickled vegetables. Your sandwich comes with a bag of potato chips and for $.30 more, you can add a pickle spear to that. The Italiano panini combines all of the things I love about sandwiches: hot melty stuff, flavorful meat, crisp and cold vegetables, tang, spice, creaminess, crunch. Did I mention the bread? I can’t get that bread out of my head. I don’t know if it is focaccia or some other bread that I have woefully little knowledge of (maybe one of you fellow Caffè patrons can enlighten me?), but it is flat, soft in the middle, hard and crunchy on the outside, and it doesn’t sog up like normal bread. In fact, I’ve had their sandwiches to go and eaten them an hour later to find the panini’s best characteristics well-preserved.

Pro tip: There is enough space for a dozen patrons to squeeze in and dine, but it can be busy during lunch. I prefer to call ahead for take-out orders. Grab a pastry and some caffè while you’re there to pick up your sandwich.

Where: Frasca Caffè at 1720 Pearl Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302.

When: Have yourself the Italiano panini caldi or anything else from the menu Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm or Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm.

Contact: Call Frasca Caffè at 303.442.9464. Visit their Facebook page.

Full Disclosure: My opinions. No comps for the chomps.

Previous sandwich research:

1) The Pinyon’s fried chicken sandwich
2) Cafe Blue’s blackened tuna sandwich

Recipe: chocolate mochi cake

Easter is coming. (If I were a Stark, I’d say, “Winter is coming.”) Working with artisan Robin Chocolates these past few weeks, I feel as if it has been Easter for a while. I’ve had hand-crafted marshmallow-almond butter chocolate bunnies, bunny sugar cookies, chocolate ducks, marshmallow peanut butter bears, peanut butter crisp chocolate eggs, caramel turtles, and assorted (amazing) truffles marching past my camera and into my (or rather, Jeremy’s) belly.

the cutest dark chocolate ducky

bunny filled with marshmallow fluff and almond butter (it was delicious)

If you live in the Boulder-Denver area, you are so totally in luck. You can stop by Robin’s storefront in Longmont (Monday-Saturday 12:00 pm – 6:30 pm) for a free sample while you pick out your gorgeous Easter goodies for the sweet-toothed loved ones in your life (or yourself, ahem…). Heck, go there for their incredible pastries in addition to the confections. Or try your luck with any of these locations that carry Robin Chocolates. If you aren’t fortunate enough to live in beautiful Colorado, you can always rush order for Easter. Don’t forget Mother’s Day is just around the corner!

Robin Chocolates
600 Airport Road
Building B, Suite D
Longmont, CO 80503
720.204.8003
12:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Monday – Saturday

robin makes award-winning truffles

Normal began to lose all meaning for me until this week when a storm front drifted in and dumped several inches of snow in my yard, on my house, on the trees, in the mountains – everywhere. I know a lot of people in Seattle, Washington and Ithaca, New York who become noticeably depressed or cranky when they haven’t seen the sun in a couple of weeks. I get that, I think. I’m the opposite. I need my snow and in summer, I’ll settle for rain (rain is good). As soon as Jeremy got home on Tuesday, I shoved his ski pants at him and said, “We’re taking Kaweah for a ski.” It had snowed all day and five minutes before he walked through the front door, the sun came shining through.

the storm clears out

snow, at last!!

kaweah didn’t want to stop for pictures

but she did stop for treats

Kaweah ran her little brains out, she was so happy. We were elated to be out there alone, in the still and quiet of the woods, blanketed in white. Cold air feels good when your face is flushed bright red from exercise. I don’t know if we’ll get any more snowfall. I hope we do for recreation, yes, but especially to mitigate wildfires this summer and fall. Once home, we both dug into some chocolate mochi cake I had made, to tide us over while we cooked dinner. I know I’ve said I’m not a fan of chocolate, but I do love 1) a little bit of good quality dark chocolate and now 2) chocolate mochi.

evaporated milk, glutinous rice flour, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, chocolate, butter, eggs

mix the dry ingredients together

My friend Fran, a native of Hilo, Hawai’i, sent me a link to a recipe for chocolate mochi cake last year, but I lost it. I began to google about for it recently and came upon a recipe from the Polynesian Cultural Center website. Having made complicated pastries and confections in the past, a recipe that calls for mixing everything in one bowl and dumping it into a pan to bake sounds like heaven to me. This is heaven. Now, the original recipe calls for margarine and well… you know we’re using butter instead of margarine. It’s worth stating (again): glutinous rice flour does not contain gluten. This is totally gluten-free friendly.

melted butter and chocolate

stir in the evaporated milk

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: passion fruit iced tea

Flowers are EVERYWHERE. At first, I had a few lying around the house after a shoot (they were props). That’s about the only time we have flowers in the house. Our guests typically bring hostess gifts of food or wine, and Jeremy knows I’d rather we spend money on skis or outdoor gear over cut flowers any day. But if flowers are around, I love to study them: their structure, colors, shapes, flesh of the petals and leaves, the pollen, the geometries… Flowers are fascinating to me. And they’re lovely.

pink and yellow

reminds me of cotton candy

bolder colors are more my preference

So I was smiling to myself that I have spring going on in my mountain home, and then I drive into Boulder to see that the pink and white flowering trees are going gangbusters. GANGBUSTERS! That telltale yellow-green haze on the bare branches means we can look forward to trees leafing out in the next few weeks. That makes sense considering the unseasonable warmth, but it doesn’t end there. On a trail run last Friday, I nearly tripped over my own feet when I noticed a pasque flower blooming. It’s the first flower to make an appearance each spring in the mountains, but we typically see them in early May – NOT late March. Here is one from May 2, 2009:

first!

Of course, it’s snowing this morning and I feel like someone has put the world back on the right track. That’s a short-lived burst of joy for me as we are reverting back to warm (hot) and sunny weather within 48 hours. I’m obsessing a bit over how to combat the heat and recalled how I cooled off when I was last on the Big Island of Hawai’i: liliko’i iced tea.

passion fruit pulp, black tea, sugar

make the simple syrup first to give it time to cool

Liliko’i is passion fruit and it is one of my favorite fruits on the planet. My mouth waters just thinking of the tart and fragrant pulp. Now, I’m not talking about making iced tea with Tazo’s passion tea (which I think is disgusting and tastes nothing of passion fruit). No, this liliko’i iced tea is like an Arnold Palmer (my default summer beverage). Rather than half iced tea and half lemonade, it is half iced tea and half passion fruit juice. Yes, and yes again.

measure out your tea

steeping

**Jump for more butter**