Being trapped in the house and bored for most of the day tends to lead this girl to baking something.

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a while and thought I’d give it a shot since I had everything to make it on hand. I’m kind of on a green tea kick right now too, so it sounded delicious.

You start like many other cake recipes by creaming together the butter and sugar.

Then adding the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.

From here on alternate adding the sour cream (I used plain yogurt instead) and the dry ingredients (pre-mixed together) until everything is included.

Then separate out half of the batter into another bowl. I added matcha to one and the last dregs of cocoa powder I had left to the other.

Butter and flour a loaf pan. Alternate adding layers of one batter, then the other, and smooth out on top.

I used a chopstick to swirl the top of the batter hoping for a marbled affect in the finished loaf.

Oooo…after 55 minutes at 350 degrees it came out golden and rounded and smelling sweetly of fresh green tea.

You can see the two colors peeking out of the crispy crack in the loaf.

I didn’t get much of the marbling I was hoping for, but the undulating layers of springy green and warming cocoa were still beautiful together.

It’s really tender and not overly sweet. Moist but not damp or oily. A perfect cake to have as a snack or tea accompaniment.

I officially have too many sweets in the house now, with this cake and a plastic container full of green tea dorayaki.

Somehow though, with threats of ice on the roads until Friday, I think there may be even more baking in my immediate future.

January 11, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments

So after checking out the snow yesterday Jeff got a tweet notifying him that The Brick Store was open and packed.

I don’t know what we were thinking, but somehow we got the crazy idea to walk the 1.3 miles in the ice to grab a few beers once Jeff finished work for the day.

It was treacherous the whole way, and quite a workout! We caught sight of a bunch of kids sledding down a street into what would normally have been a very busy intersection, now deserted.

We watched them for a while, then started our trek uphill to The Brick Store.

The Marlay brought out their “white tablecloth” service…

No where to stop for a break…

Onward to our final destination…

The Brick Store is Decatur’s crowning glory. It is consistently rated among not only the best pubs in Georgia or even the States, but among the best in the world.

With their selection of brews numbering in the hundreds, their highly knowledgeable staff, and stellar pub food, it’s truly no wonder it is so highly reviewed.

Jeff and I both ordered the Brasserie Dupont’s Avec les Bons Voeux first.

It was refreshing and citrusy. You’d think I’d want something dark and warming after that long trek to get there, but somehow this was exactly what I needed.

We ordered dinner too. I got a grilled turkey sandwich on rye with spicy mustard and a side salad with basil dressing.

Jeff got a roast beef sandwich with “chips.”

He puts that house-made spicy mustard on everything.

After dinner we had another round. This time Jeff got a scotch, Cragganmore.

And I tried a St. Bernardus variety that I haven’t had before, the Watou Tripel.

It was good, it had that sort of balmy filmy quality you get from oily citrus zest. Jeff’s scotch was good too, pretty smooth and honeyed.

After that it was time to head back. The roads had become even more icy at this point.

I actually slipped once and hit my hip pretty hard, I’ve got a nice bruise to show for it today.

We had a really good time though, typically we are not people that walk a mile+ in the snow and ice to go have a beer when we could just stay at home, but I’m really glad we did it, it was a fun little adventure.

January 11, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments