Last night, I had dinner at Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's a restaurant that is a throwback (but in a very good, comforting way) to the 1980's. It takes up the bulk of an old brick rowhouse on the edge of the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, the downstairs dining room is lined in wood paneling and mirrors (thus the eighties feel) and diners are perch on scarred chairs or along a padded built in seat that runs the length of the wall. Neither fancy, nor cheap, the food is the sort of stuff that you might make at home if you had enough time or inclination to use that much butter.

While they've never done their own cookbook (like their now-shuttered former peer The Commissary), they've posted one of their most popular recipes on their website. I had this Cream of Mushroom Soup last night and it was one of the best things I've eaten in weeks. Smooth, but not in a way that resembles baby food, the mushroom flavor sings and the shot of cognac gives it a welcome, warming buzz. If it tastes as good in my kitchen as it did in the restaurant, I may be saying good-bye to my previous muchroom soup favorite.

I love cooking on Sunday morning. Sunday is usually the one day of the week I can do whatever I want, so they're pretty laid back and slow. It's only been a recent discovery that I enjoy cooking on my one easy day of the week, as opposed to a bowl of cereal, but I'm glad I finally did come to that realization.

Some of you may remember a post from earlier this week about Nazuki, a spice bread from Georgia. Well, everyone's been pretty busy this week, so the second loaf was starting to go stale. Of course one of the best ways to use up stale bread is a nice bread pudding, and that's what I made for my Sunday morning. My first thought was to make a savory bread pudding with some tomatoes that I need to use up, but I just couldn't see using a sweet bread in a savory dish. The flavors wouldn' mesh.

After breifly flirting with making French toast instead, I mixed up some milk and eggs with some cinnamon and brown sugar, then pourd it over the crumbled Nazuki in a baking dish. The bread pudding didn't take very long to bake, and it was delicious when it was done. It was a sweet dish, but not any more so than French toast and less so than sweet syrup on pancakes. If you don't have any Nazuki on hand, I bet this would be great with cinnamon raisin bread. The recipe is after the jump.

A lot of states here in the U.S. have laws banning alcohol sales on Sunday's. I've never really understood why. People are still going to drink if they really want to, so there's no big moral reason. That's even less of a reason if the state allows restaurants that sell adult beverages to operate on Sunday. It would be more moral to let people buy alcohol and drink at home than to make them go out for it and drive home drunk. I suppose there's always the argument that you should plan ahead. I don't know how many times I've been shopping on Sunday, when I have time, and not been able to purchase wine for meal later in the week.

And that's part of the reason why the Colorado State Senate has taken up a bill that would allow Sunday sales of alcohol. On Friday it approved the bill, but it still has to pass another vote in the Senate and also be passed in the state's House of Representatives.


So it's not out of the woods yet, but the effort to have all week access to alcohol is looking better. Attitudes are changing. When the laws were originally passed, most stores were already closed on Sunday. Now, a lot of people do their grocery shopping on Sunday, and businesses are losing out on sales on Sunday, at least.

The government should work on teaching people how to be responsible, and maybe work on strategies to prevent the downsides of drinking. It should not, however, tell me when I can purchase alcohol. That's just un-American.

[Via Realbeer]

I was looking for something to spice up my pancakes this morning and I couldn't stop thinking about the Cranberry, Orange & Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies I made earlier this week. Chocolate chips are for "special occasion" pancakes and I'm not a fan of dried fruit in them, but I thought that orange would be a very welcome flavor in my breakfast. I ended up adding in the zest of one orange and a splash of cinnamon. The resulting pancakes, when topped with maple syrup as well, virtually screamed fall. The tender pancakes were addictive and there was just enough flavor from the orange and cinnamon to make them interesting, without becoming overwhelming. What a great way to start of a Sunday!

After watching the pancake video a few too many times, I couldn't resist mixing up a batch of my favorite pancakes. Buttermilk pancakes are light, fluffy and perfect for add-ins. You can stir in almost anything to make your pancakes a little more interesting. In the summer, blueberries (pictured) are a natural choice, as are any other fresh berries. Diced bananas and shredded coconut are also popular picks. The kid in you may want to relieve childhood memories by adding chocolate chips to the batter, though by using chopped bittersweet chocolate, expensive chocolate, you can make them a little more grown up.

Speaking of kids, making pancakes in the morning is a great way to bond with your children and get them interested in cooking. Just set out little bowls with plenty of good things to add in to the pancake batter and let them make their own selections while you supervise the griddle. Banana chocolate chip? Raspberry coconut? Orange cinnamon?

Sounds good to me.

Kids come up with some interesting ideas. How about a Blueberry Syrup Waffle Popsicle, or a Caramel Apple Carnival Pop? These are two of the winning flavor combinations from last year's Flavorologist contest.

If your son or daughter is between 6 and 12 and has his own ideas about what ice cream should taste like, he or she is eligible to enter this year's Nestle's Flavorologist contest. By submitting an original flavor combination for a frozen popsicle, a flavor name and description of the appearance of the popsicle, along with short "resume" describing their experience playing with foods, they could win a batch of custom popsicles! There are 10 winners and included in each prize package are a $1000 US savings bond and a school ice cream party. One grand prize winner will get a behind the scenes factory tour and an all-expenses paid trip for 4 to California.