Buca di Beppo Atlantic City

Buca di Beppo Atlantic City

The weekend after Thanksgiving we went to Atlantic City, NJ for a 3 day, 2 night stay. We booked an ocean view room at Bally's and had breakfast and lunch at Buca di Beppo, which is located on the 6th floor. We love this Italian restaurant and they are the only restaurant in Bally's to offer a breakfast buffet. The breakfast buffet was $14.99 and the lunch menu was reasonably priced. Our lunch cost $14.99 each plus $1.99 extra for Allen's caesar salad. The warm bread with butter is so good and essential for dipping into the marinara sauce. When you visit Bally's be sure to eat here!

Allen's caesar salad

Allen's chicken parmigiana with fettucine alfredo

Allen's chicken parmigiana with fettucine alfredo

My chicken limone with spaghetti marinara

We ate half the bread already; good thing they brought us more

For breakfast, you choose whatever you like from the buffet and you can also order an omelet. Coffee and juice is included in the price. I ordered an omelet with spinach, peppers and mushrooms. I had some sausage links, bacon, a biscuit and home style potatoes. Allen ordered an omelet with ham, cheddar cheese, and mushrooms and what I had from the buffet, and some biscuits and gravy.

Sophia at Buca di Beppo

Allen at Buca di Beppo

The next day we went to Buca for lunch. Allen ordered chicken parmigiana topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella with fettuccine alfredo and a side order caesar salad. I ordered chicken limone; a lemon butter sauce with capers and spaghetti marinara.

Sophia's breakfast; ketchup - hee hee

Allen and his breakfast

Allen's breakfast

The chicken limone was so tender and juicy and the lemon sauce was the perfect balance with the tang of the capers. Allen's chicken parmigiana was melt in your mouth from the flavorful breading and the marinara sauce and cheese. The caesar salad was creamy from the dressing. The fettucine alfredo was a perfect al dente and the sauce tasted great.

Sophia at Bally's

Allen at Bally's

Our ocean view room; it rained today

A sunny day today; view from our ocean view room

Here is a side ocean view from our room of the Ocean Resort Casino, Resorts, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

We fully recommend Buca di Beppo when you are staying at Bally's.

For further information, please visit Buca di Beppo Atlantic City:
https://www.bucadibeppo.com/restaurants/nj/atlantic-city/

-Sophia/Two Frys

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp

When we went apple picking with our family at Apple Ridge Orchards, I baked this Apple Crisp with our apples. Apple Crisp is best served warm with a scoop of ice cream. I bought pumpkin ice cream and it was the perfect compliment. This is a very easy recipe to put together. I increased the cinnamon by 1/2 teaspoon and used light brown in place of brown sugar. See recipe and directions below.

Apple Crisp with pumpkin ice cream

Ingredients

6 Large Apples (I mixed tart and sweet)

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

1 cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon All-Purpose Flour

1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon

1 cup Quick Cooking Oatmeal

1/2 cup (1 stick) Salted Butter, melted

Apple Crisp with pumpkin ice cream, so good!

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel, core and slice apples. I peeled all the apples and then used a corer.

Combine the granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon of flour, and ground cinnamon in a large bowl. 

Add the apples and with a spatula combine until incorporated.

Apple Crisp fresh out of the oven

Add the coated apples into a 9 inch round dish (I used a Pyrex glass dish).

In a small sauce pan on low heat, melt butter. Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, oatmeal, light brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda  and then add the melted butter, and incorporate until crumbly.

Our apples from apple picking

Top the crumbly mixture over the coated apples covering completely.

Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Serve warm with your favorite ice cream. I served ours with pumpkin ice cream.

For the Perfectly Crumbly Apple Crisp recipe visit:

http://www.humminghomebody.com/apple-crisp/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Transformer Cookies

Transformer Cookies

I made Transformer Cookies for my cousin Pam whose son who was celebrating his sixth birthday. The Autobots are Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. I also made a dozen number 6 cookies with flames in red and blue; the colors of Optimus Prime. My fave is Bumblebee and my hubby and I have seen all the Transformer movies and enjoyed them all! Go to my Holiday Sugar Cookies post for the vanilla cookie and royal icing recipes. 

Transformer Autobot Cookies

Transformer Autobot and Number Six Cookies

Transformer Autobot Cookies

I covered the Autobots using a border icing first, letting that dry for 1/2 hour and then with the flood icing to cover each cookie. I let the cookies dry overnight. I made yellow, blue, and red Autobots. For the number 6, I made a dozen in red and blue and alternated the two colors on the cookies making 6 with blue flames and the other six flames in red.

Yellow Autobots done

Blue Autobots have to dry

Red Autobots have to dry

The next day I used a Chefmaster Food Decorating Pen in black to outline the face of each Autobot cookie and for the flames on the number six cookie. I then used black border royal icing with a Wilton #1 tip on my icing bottle to apply the detail. I let the cookies dry overnight. This is necessary if you are stacking cookies.

Chefmaster Food Decorating Pens

Wilton #1 Tip on icing bottle for detailing work

Icing Colors in Royal Blue, Super Red, Lemon Yellow

I was inspired by the Transformer Autobot Cookies made by One Sweet Treat:

http://onesweettreat.com/2014/08/transformers-autobots-sugar-cookies/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Vintage Halloween Cookies

Vintage Halloween Cookies

I purchased these Vintage Halloween Wafer Paper Designs from Fancy Flours for Halloween cookie baking. I really love the designs. For a tutorial on applying wafer paper visit my Sunflower Cookies. Rice paper breaks easily so you need to take care when cutting and applying the wafer paper to the cookies. If you love skulls and anatomy, the designs make a great cookie set. In college, I studied human osteology, anatomy, and forensic anthropology so bones are dear to my heart. The designs in this sense were appealing to me and a treat to be able to work with in cookie form.

Skull anatomy

Skeleton with top hat

Skeletal hand

I like the Undertaker business cards and the Poison design. The font for the BOO wafer paper are also real cool. They make great gifts too!

George H. Stewart Undertaker Business Card

BOO letters

Another undertaker card

Arsenic Poison label

For wafer paper and other fine products, visit:
https://www.fancyflours.com/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Skeleton Cookies

Skeleton Cookies

I was so excited when I bought these Williams-Sonoma Skeleton Cookie Cutters and made this skeleton for Halloween. The cutters are not anatomically correct but they are adorbs either way. I saved some of the vanilla cookie dough from my Halloween Cookies post and used white royal icing with 2 drops of super white to fill in the cavity of the bones. This skeleton set is a fun activity to do with your kids.

Skeleton Cookies

Skull

These were fun to make. The trick for the imprint is to make sure the dough is cold and to first cut the shape with the cutter and then press the imprint into the dough as you do each bone.

Bones

Cute rib cage

All the bones except the legs

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Dia de los Muertos Sugar Skulls

Dia de los Muertos Sugar Skulls
Day of the Dead Sugar Skulls

Feliz Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead! I love the vibrant colors and intricate designs of sugar skulls celebrated in Mexico to celebrate/honor the lives of dearly departed family and friends! I used wafer paper designs to make these cookies and the vanilla sugar cookie recipe from my Christmas Cookies. I love the wafer paper designs for the sugar skulls.

Sugar Skull Cookie

Sugar Skull Cookie

To adhere the wafer paper on the sugar skulls, I decorated them with royal icing and once the cookies were dry, used a brush dipped in light corn syrup on the undecorated side of the wafer skulls and gently pressed them onto each cookie. It is important to let them set overnight so they do not stick together and the wafer paper tears.

Sugar Skull Cookie

Sugar Skull Cookie

Sugar Skull Cookie

For more information on Day of the Dead, visit:
http://traditionscustoms.com/death-rites/day-of-dead-mexico

For Day of the Dead Sweets and Treats, visit:
https://www.history.com/news/day-of-the-dead-sweets-and-treats

Top 10 Things to Know About the Day of the Dead:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/north-america/mexico/top-ten-day-of-dead-mexico/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys