Restaurant Wars 2013 - Dairy Queen

I've been slacking on my 2013 challenge.  It's funny really.  Since I've been unemployed I have had more time to complete the challenges, but I haven't finished one since May!  Today marks me getting back on the horse and starting the second half of the year with a delicious bang.

Today's challenge is perfectly timed with this hot weather that has been blanketing the country.  It's ice cream related.  My challenge restaurant this week is Dairy Queen!

The vast menu of DQ gave me lots of options to choose from for my challenge.  From Blizzards to Peanut Buster parfaits, waffle bowl sundaes to Dilly bars, most of treats are made from soft serve ice cream and different inclusions.  What I usually order when I head to DQ is a vanilla cone, dipped in cherry red shell.  Simple, delicious.  Love it.

There are lots of recipes out there for chocolate magic shell.  Simple combine chocolate chips with some coconut oil and you've made yourself magic shell.  Cherry magic shell is a little bit more tricky.  I had to make a few batches to get this one right.  I started out with white chocolate and coconut oil, with cherry extract.  That batch tasted like coconut magic shell.  Not quite what I was going for.

Batch two I swapped out the coconut oil for grape seed oil.  Grape seed oil is perfect for this because it lends no flavor to the magic shell.  It wasn't there yet, because the cherry flavor wasn't strong enough.  That red stuff from Dairy Queen really tastes like cherries.  Well, fake cherry flavoring actually.  I decided to swap out the cherry extract for cherry candy oil.  It's a much more potent flavoring and matched with a little vanilla extract, made for just the right combination.  I threw in a big dash of red food coloring and I finally came out with magic in a jar.

Now I don't need to drive halfway across New Jersey to get myself a DQ vanilla cone.

Happy Birthday WITK!

That's right, it's my birthday!

Actually, to be precise, it's Wilde in the Kitchen's birthday!  Or it was last week.  I'm so terrible with dates.

It's been three whole years since I first put my fingers to the keyboard and typed up my very first post.  It's amazing how many things have changed since June 2010.

In three years I have...

- had four different home addresses
- completed two natural product syntheses
- started and ended my first job in industry
- finally moved in with my long term love
- visited 14 different countries

My cooking and baking skills have improved dramatically since I first decided to join the ranks of the food blogger.  Some things I thought I would never make, but have, include...

- sponge candy
- coconut milk
- Greek yogurt, from scratch
- potato gnocchi
- my own ketchup & mustard

There were so many side effects of starting WITK that I never expected.  Of course I planned on trying my recipes and stretching my culinary skills.  I had hoped my photography skills would improve (something I'm still working on!).  I never thought I would come to know so many great people, make new friends and become part of a larger community.

Thanks so much to everyone out there in the world that has made WITK as fun as it is, for supporting me in my crazy kitchen endeavors and giving me a reason to keep on going.

Have a slice of cake to celebrate WITK turning 3.  I wonder what the next few years will bring?

Wilde Week #19

1. Happy Fourth of July Week everyone!  I hope that you were one of the lucky people with a super long weekend.  I love it when the 4th is in the middle of the week.  It means you can go and watch fireworks all week long!  We got to watch three different displays, even one right from our couch (thank you mystery town west of ours!).

2. I'm totally behind on my Restaurant Wars challenge.  Please, don't go up top and click on the tab.  I'm way behind.  Like months behind.  This is totally crazy because I've been unemployed for a month and a half.  I should have all the time in the world to complete the challenges.  I promise I'll fix it.  Don't give up on me!

3. In the meantime, I need to make cookie dough brownies, like stat.

4. I spent a good portion of this long weekend at a photography workshop with Aran Goyoaga (of Cannelle et Vanille).  It was a two day workshop and day one was dedicated to foraging and outdoor photography!  I'll tell you all about it later this week, but I wanted to share a few photos from the weekend.  If you have the chance to take one of Aran's workshops, you should definitely sign up.  It was very inspiring.

5. I was at French Connection this weekend and tried on those pants up there.  Thoughts?  My only problem is, it's a million degrees outside right now and I can't imagine wearing pants.

6.   Want to learn a neat trick in to use Photoshop?  Check out this video.  Now you don't have to worry about all those tourists in your photo of Lady Liberty.  Just average them out.  Amazing.

7. I have discovered the absolute best time to go shopping in Soho.  It's July 4th.  All of the city dwellers have fled the island for the beaches and all of the tourists are on the west side trying to get a good firework viewing spot.  This leaves Soho completely empty, yet all the stores are having amazing sales.  I got a Tahari suit for 60% off.  I'm going to be styling on my upcoming interviews!   Put it in your calendar - July 4th 2014 - shop in Soho.