Who wants to be a Cupcake Smackdown1.0 judge?

Wanna judge at Cupcake Smackdown1.0? Here's your chance to judge the People's Blind Tasting Contest!

For the first 10 people to @me on twitter will get the chance to judge either the catered cupcake or the storefront cupcake category for a $25 donation to the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas. It will be a blind tasting. You'll need to show up at at One-2-One Bar no later than 3:15 pm on August 1st to claim your spot. Please bring exact change ($25).

@Me on Twitter with why you would make a great cupcake judge. I want creativity here. I'm looking for more than something like "I like to eat sweets." Include #cupcakeriot in your tweet. You may only use 1 tweet so choose your 140 characters wisely. If you follow all the instructions, I will @ you back letting you know your place on the list. I will also be taking up to 5 standby judges. If you do not show up at One-2-One Bar by 3:15 pm, you will forfeit your judge's spot to a standby. If you do not follow all the instructions, I won't @you with a confirmation.

Do NOT call me for this. I went through 500 minutes in the last week for Cupcake Smackdown. I have no more minutes. Do NOT email me. I have well over 1000 emails in my inbox with the word cupcake in it. @me on Twitter is the only way to get your spot to judge.

Happy Twittering! My twitter handle is :MisoHungry

Cupcake Smackdown1.0 details

HTML clipboard

Oops, this is all in red for some reason. Oh well. Here's some deets for Cupcake Smackdown1.0. Full post with info here.

Human category: Eating contest entries will be limited to the first 25. You must bring your form & fee to the April (The Hungry Engineer) by 5:45 pm Aug 1st.

Dog category: eating contest entries limited to the first 15. You must bring your form and fee to the April (The Hungry Engineer) by 5:45pm August 1st.

Eating contests will be for SPEED.

No more entries for the amateur classes. Sorry, gotta wait until next year.

Human and dog friendly dogs (and humans for that matter) at the event only please.

Cameras and video camera encouraged.

There will be food vendors at the event.

There may be gluten free cupcakes available. Still pending.

Dining for Life, Stand up by Sitting Down to benefit AIDS services of Austin

From the AIDS Services of Austin:

The 17th Annual Dining for Life is scheduled for Monday, September 14 and Tuesday, September 15, 2009. Please join us as restaurants all over Austin unite in the fight against HIV and AIDS. As thousands of patrons fill their plates in support, these restaurants will be graciously donating a substantial portion of each diner's check to AIDS Services of Austin (ASA). Their generosity - coupled with your appetite - will make a very real difference in the lives of thousands of men, women and families throughout the Austin community.

This year our goal is to raise $30,000 and we need your help!

Just dine at any of the participating restaurants on one (or both) of those evenings and a percentage of your dinner proceeds will be donated to ASA! It will be one of the most satisfying meals you ever eat.

Link to participating restaurants here.

Food Blogger's Special @ Flavor Tripping at the Belmont, Wednesday, 29th and Friday, 31st

Long story short, I cyber met Jenny Wang through Yelp/Twitter, and it was apparent that we have quite a bit in common. Both of our names are Jennie/Jenny. Were both Asian. We both love food. We both went to UT for undergrad. We both like to throwdown/smackdown. She's called the Berry Fairy. I'm the Cupcake Fairy! She is to Houston as I am to Austin. Freaky!

Anyways, we connected, and I'm promoting her Flavor Tripping event at the Belmont this week. Full promotional information below. The Wednesday night event seems to be booked already with a special $10 discount for Yelp members. I will be at the Friday flavor tripping event at the Belmont, with a special code for food bloggers. Food bloggers will receive 2 free drinks with each ticket purchase. Please purchase the tickets through here. Food bloggers will have a private tasting room where we can hang out and take photos. Food Bloggers are encouraged to bring their own foods to taste as well. Think kimchi, mint chutney, cock sauce, unagi sauce, or even durian. Food Blogger's, make sure you purchase your tickets and come find me for access to our private room.

Tickets here, make sure you food bloggers come find me. I look like this.


Flavor Tripping @ The Belmont!

Wed, July 29 @ 6:00 pm

Fri, July 31 @ 6:00 pm

Our next Flavor Tripping will be held at The Belmont in Austin, TX. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to We Are Learning. Tickets are available online.

what is a flavor tripping party?

flavor tripping parties are the latest craze in NY and SF and offer willy wonka-esque taste-altering experiences for your tastebuds. party-goers get a fresh miracle berry and then help themselves to a bacchanalian banquet of food and naughty beverages. the miracle berry affects everyone differently and the effects can last from 30 minutes to 2 hours. this is what some flavor-trippers are saying:

- citrus fruits like lemons and limes taste sweet

- oranges and grapefruits tasted dipped in sugar

- goat cheese tastes like frosting

- vinegar is smooth enough to drink

- cheap tequila tastes like top shelf

- bologna sandwiches taste like cheesecake

- stout beers taste like chocolate milkshakes

miracle berries are only good for 2-3 days after they are picked and so they are very rare, expensive, and hard to obtain. likewise, it is difficult to get a large volume of them. flavor tripping parties sell out very quickly!

our flavor tripping parties will be held at different fun locations around houston and the foods and beverages served will vary per event.

we will also start offering miracle berry tablets at our events for those berry trippers seeking an intensified effect.

what *is* a Miracle Berry?

miracle berries, also known as miracle fruit or Synsepalum dulcificum are fresh plants indigenous to west africa. the fruit when consumed have an extraordinary affect on your tastebuds. scientists say a protein in the fruit works by binding to taste buds and altering the tongue's so-called sweet receptors to activate when sour foods are eaten. the "miracle" is everything sour and bitter will taste sweet temporarily.

lemons taste like lemonade, guiness beer tastes like chocolate milk, rhubarb tastes like sugar cane!

miracle berry plants can only grow in parts of africa, asia, and florida. they take four years from seed to bear fruit. the berries are also highly perishable and must be eaten within 2-3 days once picked. for diabetics, it could be turned into a sugar-free additive. for cancer patients, it could eliminate the post-chemotherapy metallic taste in their mouths and make food taste more palatable. all of these factors including recent press by the new york times make this berry almost a "miracle" to obtain.

our first event

the Houston Chowhounds hosted houston's first flavor tripping party on july 25, 2008 at la strada in montrose. the second floor of the restaurant was reserved for this private event for 100 people. the event sold-out and was a smashing success. we even had over 30 names on the waiting list to get in!

the spread: lemons, limes, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, brussels sprouts, bologna sandwiches, blue cheese, salt & vinegar potato chips, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, mustard, tabasco, guiness beer, chocolate stout, india pale ale, cheap tequila, and cranberry juice.

Drunken Lamingtons

Lamingtons are delicious, and have often been described as a "snowball." Lamingtons are a traditional snack (I hear that I'm not supposed to call it a dessert) in Australia, and I had my first at a little bakery in College Station called Patty Cakes. Patty Cakes has since closed. *cry cry cry cry cry* When I found out the news a week ago, I was determined to make my own lamingtons, drunken style. They are yellow sponge cake covered with a chocolate syrup and rolled in coconut. The classic recipe for this is widely available on the internet, so I won't post it here.

My twist on the lamingtons is that I added beer (Shiner Bock for this particular batch) to the cake batter, and (512) Pecan Porter to the chocolate syrup. My recipe is not currently being posted. Here are some pics of how it is done though. All photos by John Knox, so he doesn't sue me.

Beer Cake

Dipping the cake in chocolate syrup

Cake can fall apart easily. Refrigerate quickly to set the syrup.

More Dipping

Finished product!

(512) turns a year old!

New (512) Shirt with John's pic. It kind of looks like a ghost hand to me.

It's an anniversary party, and there's going to be cake! (512) Brewery turns a year old, and they are throwing a party to celebrate on Saturday, August 1st, 2-5 pm. Check out this blog for more deets. http://craftaustin.blogspot.com/2009/07/512-brewing-1st-anniversary.html

I'd like to take a moment and post about (512). If you haven't had their pecan porter, you haven't really lived. This is one of my favorite porters, and I do love my porters. It is dark and has the rich smell of pecans. Smell it. you'll like it.

Many moons ago, my friend Nikki and I were driving to a dog show in Utah when I thought, "Why don't I make a line of recipes based entirely off beer?" I came up with a list of dishes: beer cake, beer pie, beer maple syrup, beer bread, beer pancakes, etc... We got pretty excited, yes, we did. I called John from Utah and instructed him to contact Kevin @512brewing with the idea. John does photography as a hobby for (512). Very soon after, the Drunken German Chocolate Cupcake was created. I also recently made Drunken Lamingtons with the (512) Pecan Porter.

Anyways, go to the party. Grab a shirt. Have some cake. Have some booze. Then head over to Cupcake Smackdown1.0.

MisoHungry Makes it with Moonshine

The blog is evolving, and I've been contemplating on changing up the blog a bit for a few reasons.

1. There's a food business in Austin now with a similar name. I'm not associated with them, and I'm very commonly mistaken for that business.

2. I was asked "Do you ever make anything without booze?" "Um..... hmmm........ um.... no. I guess not." Not often anyways. The bulk of my recipes have alcohol.

3. "I thought you were the cupcake fairy." I do make cupcakes quite frequently because they are easy to give away, easy to decorate, and fairy quick to make. I do other desserts as well, but cupcakes are the easiest to pass out.

I pondered for a while about switching the name completely, or just having two areas on my blog. I decided to just merge the names to something new, keeping the original blog name and my twitter handle. The new name is MisoHungry Makes it with Moonshine.

The MisoHungry part still focuses on traditional Asian recipes, food events, reverse engineering recipes (which mostly wind up with booze anyways), and restaurant reviews. The Make it with Moonshine part brings in all my boozy cooking, including the cupcakes. In addition, Make it with Moonshine will include reviews of Austin and Central TX restaurant dishes containing alcohol, features on local breweries, wineries, and distilleries, posts on the booze I use in my cooking, and original recipes. Some upcoming recipes: aqua fresca, beer pork tenderloin, Frangelico truffle brownies in a creme brandy sauce, brandy brie, roasted beer chicken, beer bread, and red wine salmon.

So how much alcohol do I own? A plethora. My cabinet looks like Fino. My fridge is mostly beer, home-brewed mostly. I have a wine collection that would make a wine snob jealous.

How much alcohol do I drink? Not much. I'm Asian. I'm not that big. I don't have ADLH2. That means I can't drink very much. Just one huckleberry rita at Roaring Fork will take me out for 12 hours.

Why do you cook with alcohol then? Flavor. Flavor. Flavor. It tastes DAAAAAAMN good. It gives dishes a different kick.

Happy Cooking and Happy Eating! Just 9 more days until Cupcake Smackdown1.0!

Judge's Panel for Cupcake Smackdown 1.0

Here's the list of judges for Cupcake Smackdown1.0. I will be tasting, but not judging.

Jennie Chen - MisoHungryNow.com & MakeitwithMoonshine.com - Will shake my cupcakes for frosting.

Nataya Anderson – FeteandFeast.com -The REAL Everyday Foodie

Michelle Cheng – foodieisthenewforty.com - Attorney and Cupcake at Law

Jessica Maher – Spoon & Co. - Eats cupcakes in a single bite

Peter Tsai – FoodingBlog.com - the Foodingblog photographer \ writer with a taste for fun

Lisa Lawless – Lisaiscooking.com -Red head with a palate for red velvets

Todd Duclephan – Executive Chef at Trio/Four Seasons - I could judge cupcakes in my sleep.

Chris Palomares - Chow Chow Connoisseur - Opa to cupcakes!

Paloma Efron– Paloma Custom Cakes - Cake decorating goddess. And damn fine baker, too.

Ryan Snedgar - wotonmera.com- "Ryan, Chief Arbiter of Cupcakes"

Phillip Speer – Pastry Chef at Uchi -Want some Uni on your cupcake?

Jodi Bart – Tasty Touring and KGSR - Has anyone invented a cupcake top?

Devrah Otten - winner of the tasting competition portion of That Takes The Cake(2008 and 2009) - Cupcake Mistress of the Delicious.

Kristin - Do512 - It's not the size of the Cup it's the shake of the Cake

Jenna Noel – Associate Publisher of Edible Austin - I drink frosting for breakfast.

Chris Speyer - Chief taster of the Speyer Ranch - Will judge for booze

Kristen Speyer - Betty Crocker in disguise - Are you looking at my cupcakes?

Marshall Wright - eatthislens.com - food writer/photographer

Darrell Joseph – BellaVerdiFarms - I grow cupcake farms.

Cecilia Nasti - KUT Growing Concerns - She eats from the garden and savors life (and would grow cupcakes if she could find some seeds).

Penny De Los Santos - Senior contributing photographer 4 Saveur Magazine. Travel & Food Photographer pennydelossantos.wordpress.com

Surprise! It's Cover 3!

Anyone want to guess where these tasty dishes are from? Photos by John Knox.

Beef Tenderloin Slider with Calamari

Parmesan Fries

Crab Tower

Scallop with white wine and goat cheese sauce

Sauteed Gulf Snapper with crab, lemon caper butter, and pistachios

Filet Mignon Topped with Gorgonzola Butter

If you hadn't guessed from the title, these dishes are from Cover 3. I went here last week for a complimentary tasting, and I was pleasantly surprised. Expecting a typical sports bar, I thought we'd be tasting quesadillas, chips with pace salsa, and greasy cheeseburgers. Cover 3 boasts classier menu that would be date appropriate on game night. Since I know little to nothing about sports, I cannot speak for the sports-y atmosphere. However, the atmosphere and pleasant staff makes the experience enjoyable for those who aren't going to be glued to the televisions.

The dishes presented where fairly well-executed and tasty. My take on the menu items were spruced up versions of American restaurant fare. Instead of plain fries, they have Parmesan fries. Instead of guacamole dip, they offer a chilled shrimp and crab tower with avocado. Personal favorites were the beef tenderloin sliders served "French Dip Style" and the chilled shrimp and crab tower. I felt that the beef tenderloin was extremely tender (as it should be) and served on a soft buttery roll. The sandwich could have stood alone without sauces, and I felt that the roasted onion jus sauce was way too powerful. I liked the chilled shrimp and crab tower for the simplicity of the dish. It was fresh plain seafood with fresh avocado. The shrimp and crab wasn't covered up and overpowered by a bunch of flavors to hide the freshness or unfreshness of the seafood. However, if you like your dishes complex, this probably isn't the dish for you.

While I can't speak for all of the dishes at Cover 3, I will mention that their Chop-house burger with cheese and bacon was placed at number 12 of Texas Monthly's 50 Best Burgers in Texas. I haven't had the burger itself, so I guess I can't speak for it either.

Other randomness about Cover 3:

-Large patio that is dog-friendly as long as no other patron complain. But really, this is Austin. If you don't like dogs, go back to Houston.

-They have some very cool Ice Cobra Beer Taps. Photo of one here. The neck section is literally covered with ice. It's pretty cool.

-They do have a nice little wine room, but I did not look at their wine list or prices.

Cover 3 was a nice surprise. I look forward to returning to try out their Chop-house burger, and seeing if they get local beers on tap.

Cupcake Smackdown 1.0 - Finalized with Schedule with Judges

Are you ready? Get Set! and BAKE! It is time for Austin to have a Cupcake Smackdown1.0, pitting icing against icing, pitting cake against cake. we'll see whose cupcakes reign supreme. Cupcake Smackdown will be held on August 1, 4-7 pm at One-2-One Bar. The tentative activities for Cupcake Smackdown 1.0 are a blind tasting contest of all the store front bakeries, an amateur baking contest, a cupcake silent auction, the people's popular vote, and a cupcake eating contest for both dogs and humans! Live music will be performed by Arielle Nicole.

For the blind tasting, a panel of local chefs and foodies will be chowing down on vanilla, chocolate, and a baker's choice cupcake from each of the eight store front shops. Each cupcake will be judged on the flavor, texture, and aroma.

Other activities include a bake off in which amateur bakers can enter either the vanilla, chocolate, or freestyle cupcake competition. There will be two categories for the cupcake eating contest: one for human participants and one for canine participants. Canines will be eating pupcakes for speed (not quantity). Ginger carrot pupcakes provided by Grand Dog Bakery. Spectators will also be invited to vote for the People's Choice award for any of the store front bakeries, vote for the cutest cupcake at the smackdown, and also participate in a cupcake silent auction. Proceeds to go to Wine and Food Foundation of Texas.

The event is kid and dog friendly. The last day to submit entry forms for amateur bakers' class is July 22nd. Pre-entries for the cupcake eating contest are being accepted and will be accepted until the day of the event pending space. Each entry for the eating contests costs $10. Entries for the amateur baking contest is free. Entry forms for the eating contests are available at All-In-One Bakeshop on 183. Please bring water and a spray bottle to keep your dog cool. It will be hot. Admission to the event is free. Vendors will be there to sell food items. Please tip your bartender.

Email Jennie@misohungrynow.com to participate, enter yourself or your dog, enter your cupcakes, or to sponsor the event.

Schedule:

4:00 - 6:30 - Live Music, People's Popular Vote, Cutest Cupcake Vote, Silent Auction

4:00 - 5:00 - 1st round blind tasting of cupcake entries

5:30 - 6:00 - Final round of blind cupcake tasting

6:00 - 6:30 - Canine eating cupcake contest - pupcakes provided by Grand Dog Bakery

6:30 - 7:00 - Human eating cupcake contest - cupcakes provided by All-In-One Bakeshop

Sponsors include:
Rise and Shine Bakery
Sugar Mama's
Polka Dots Bakery
Mad Cakes
Luxe Sweets
Walton's
L's Cupcakes
The Cupcake Bar
Hill Country Bakery
Wicked Cakes
Danger Cakes
Cupprimo
Grand Dog Bakery
Austin Urban Gardens
All in One Bakeshop
Growing Concerns on KUT
Do512
NosetoTailatHome.com
Bella Cupcake Couture

Here's the list of judges for Cupcake Smackdown1.0. I will be tasting, but not judging.

Jennie Chen - MisoHungryNow.com & MakeitwithMoonshine.com - Will shake my cupcakes for frosting.

Nataya Anderson – FeteandFeast.com -The REAL Everyday Foodie

Michelle Cheng – foodieisthenewforty.com - Attorney and Cupcake at Law

Jessica Maher – Spoon & Co. - Eats cupcakes in a single bite

Peter Tsai – FoodingBlog.com - the Foodingblog photographer \ writer with a taste for fun

Lisa Lawless – Lisaiscooking.com -Red head with a palate for red velvets

Todd Duclephan – Executive Chef at Trio/Four Seasons - I could judge cupcakes in my sleep.

Chris Palomares - Chow Chow Connoisseur - Opa to cupcakes!

Paloma Efron– Paloma Custom Cakes - Cake decorating goddess. And damn fine baker, too.

Ryan Snedgar - wotonmera.com- "Ryan, Chief Arbiter of Cupcakes"

Phillip Speer – Pastry Chef at Uchi -Want some Uni on your cupcake?

Jodi Bart – Tasty Touring and KGSR - Has anyone invented a cupcake top?

Devrah Otten - winner of the tasting competition portion of That Takes The Cake(2008 and 2009) - Cupcake Mistress of the Delicious.

Kristin - Do512 - It's not the size of the Cup it's the shake of the Cake

Jenna Noel – Associate Publisher of Edible Austin - I drink frosting for breakfast.

Chris Speyer - Chief taster of the Speyer Ranch - Will judge for booze

Kristen Speyer - Betty Crocker in disguise - Are you looking at my cupcakes?

Marshall Wright - eatthislens.com - food writer/photographer

Darrell Joseph – BellaVerdiFarms - I grow cupcake farms.

Cecilia Nasti - KUT Growing Concerns - She eats from the garden and savors life (and would grow cupcakes if she could find some seeds).

Penny De Los Santos - Senior contributing photographer 4 Saveur Magazine. Travel & Food Photographer pennydelossantos.wordpress.com

Fried Nori Meat Rolls

For pot luck tonight, I'm making fried nori meat rolls and amaretto fig cupcakes with peach schnapps swiss butter cream. I'm posting this recipe I put up many moons ago. Enjoy, and hope to see ya there tonight!

Fried Nori Meat Rolls are something my mother made for years. I'm not sure if there is a history to them, but they taste pretty good. Serve with Sweet Chili Sauce (in the Thai section). You might notice that the ingredients for the filling are exactly the same as the filling for the Lion's head soup. It is the exact same recipe. I actually made these when I got tired of making meatballs. I also tend to put more vegetables in my meat balls than normal. I actually have more veggies than meat in my meatballs. You can vary the ratio to your own liking. Additionally, I use a food processor to chop my dried mushrooms, carrots, and water chestnuts.

Ingredients for meat filling:

	2 pounds ground pork
	1 cup chopped scallions
	1 cup diced carrots
	1/2 cup diced water chestnuts (you can find these canned in many grocery stores now).
	1 cup diced dried mushrooms (soak mushrooms for at least one hour prior to use)
	2 table spoons garlic ginger paste - optional (find this in the Indian food section)
	2 eggs
	2 tablespoons of corn starch

Additional ingredients:

	Nori Paper
	Oil
	Sweet Chili Sauce

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add more eggs or corn starch to achieve a sticky but not overly dense consistency. Spread a thin layer of meat filling over the nori, and roll the nori into a tube like sushi You may use water to seal the edge, but I don't use anything at all. Fry immediately in a hot pan with the edge side down. Turn the rolls evenly and carefully (the nori paper is delicate!) until all sides have been browned. I also cover the rolls with a lid to make cooking time faster and to ensure that the meat inside has been cooked via steam. Once the nori is slightly brown and crispy on all sides, the meat should be done. If you made larger rolls, you might need to cook the rolls a bit longer. Slice on the bias and serve with sweet chili sauce. May be frozen and reheated. Enjoy!

*I've seen some recipes deep frying these rolls, but I prefer to pan fry.

Filling ingredients.

All mixed up.

Meat filling and Nori

Pre-rolling

Up close and personal

Frying the Rolls

Sweet Chili Sauce

Enjoy!

LovePuppies Brownies

You might have seen this on the Keep Austin Dog Friendly blog that I also run.

LovePuppies Brownies gets the proud honor of being the first business featured on Keep Austin Dog Friendly's "Inside Austin Businesses" series. I'm pretty happy to announce that as a food blogger and avid baker, LovePuppies brownies are amazingly awesome. I should know. I just ate 4 of them in the last 2 days. My favorite so far is the "You Mocha Me Crazy" which is rich dark chocolate with ground espresso beans. It is sinfully delicious with the scent of coffee and a little crunch. I'll also add that I am not a coffee drinker. I personally find plain coffee to be disgusting, but I love the smell.

Also, I wish I had pictures of the brownies to post. But I ate them all. Oops. My bad.

LovePuppies Brownies, owned by Chef Joel Haro, is a branch of his catering business. As a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, Chef Haro began a catering company that included these brownies. Since 2007, the demand for these brownies led to increased flavors, website, and a business plan just for the brownies. In 2009, La Dee Dah Treat at the South Austin Trailer Park (next to Shuggies and Torchys- LOVE Torchy's BTW - and dog friendly) began to carry the brownies.

LovePuppies currently carries six flavors: Make Mine a Double Chocolate, Peanut Butter Nutcase, You Mocha Me Crazy, Hunka Hunka Burning Love, Forget about Dinner Mint, and Trailer Park Chic. They also develop signature flavors or house brand flavors for a business or event. You can order them via their website or by phone. Give them a try. They might Mocha you crazy! www.lovepuppiesbrownies.com 512-507-9526 Did I mention that Joel Haro loves his puppies?

Drunken Cabrito Stew

It is no secret that I use liberal amounts of beer in my baking, why not use it in my baking? I recently got two whole goats from Osth Family Farm (I almost cried when they were butchered, kinda). Here's my first experiment with my babies. *Sniff Sniff*

The Farmers

Raw Goat Leg

Ingredients:
5-7 lbs of goat. I used two large whole legs.
3 table spoons of dried mint
1 teaspoon cayenne peppers
1 table spoon minced garlic or garlic ginger paste
1 teaspoon paprika
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1 table spoon canola oil
6 beers or so. Oktoberfest is a great choice.
3-4 cups of root vegetables. I used carrots and onions.

Hardware:
Large butchering knife (optional)
Heavy duty dutch over OR heavy frying pan and a large roasting pan
Heavy duty tongs

Total cook time: 4 hours.

How to:

So I had problems with my lamb legs. They were much too long to fit into my dutch oven. After wacking away at the knee joint and separating the cartilage, I was able to get one leg to fit into the dutch oven flat. Rub spices into each leg and sear in the dutch oven. Use canola oil as you need a higher smoking point. I seared each side of the leg, then I had to twist them around to get both legs to fit into the dutch oven. This is where the heavy duty tongs come in handy. Once they were both in the pot, add enough beer to cover most of the goat. You can move it into the oven now at 350 degrees, but I left my dutch oven on the stove. Low rolling boil the pot covered for about an hour. You may choose to add more or less spices anything in this process. I added garlic, more cayenne, and more mint.

After one hour of cooking

After about an hour, the goat meat should be very tough. Don't worry, that's normal for goat meat. I had to flip the goat around as not all or it was covered in the beer. Cover and low rolling boil for another hour. After two hours, the meat should start to pucker and look as if it is falling off the bone. It will still be very tough at this point. Cook for another hour, and the meat should start to fall off the bone. The meat fell off in large chunks, but it wasn't completely tender at this point. You can add your root vegetables now. There's about an hour of cooking left. After another hour or so, your beer cabrito stew is ready.Final Product

Since I used mint in mine, I'm serving it with beer and a mint chuntey (available in jars at Indian Supermarkets). It would also go well with a mint cucumber yogurt sauce. You do need the beer. A good beer. Yay for cabrito!

Cupcake Smackdown 1.0 - 2nd post with updates

Are you ready? Get Set! and BAKE! It is time for Austin to have a Cupcake Smackdown, pitting icing against icing, we'll see whose cupcakes reign supreme. The tentative activities for Cupcake Smackdown 1.0 are a blind tasting contest of all the store front bakeries, amateur baking contest, cupcake silent auctions, people's popular vote, and a cupcake eating contest for dogs and humans!

For the blind tasting, a panel of local chefs and foodies will be chowing down on vanilla, chocolate, and a baker's choice cupcake from each store front. Each cupcake will be judged on the cake, frosting, and the combination.

Other activities include a bake off in which amateur bakers can enter either the vanilla, chocolate, or freestyle cupcake competition. There will be two categories for the cupcake eating contest: one for human participants and one for canine participants. Spectators will also be invited to vote for the People's Choice award for any of the store front bakeries and also participate in a cupcake silent auction. Proceeds to go to Austin Wine and Food Foundation.

The event is kid and dog friendly. Last day to submit entry forms for amateur bakers' class is July 22nd. Pre-entries for the cupcake eating contest are being accepted.

Email Jennie@misohungrynow.com to participate, enter yourself or your dog, enter your cupcakes, or to sponsor the event.

Sponsors include:
Rise and Shine Bakery
Sugar Mama's
Polka Dots Bakery
Mad Cakes
Luxe Bakery
L's Cupcakes
The Cupcake Bar
Hill Country Bakery
Cupprimo
Grand Dog Bakery
Austin Urban Gardens
All in One Bakeshop