BudgetFood: Chocolate Lava Cake (with Cayenne and Sea Salt)

Skipping ahead to dessert, here is a great way to finish off a home-cooked meal for your date. If a home-cooked meal is the bases loaded of dating, a chocolate lava cake is the walk-off grand-slam. Add the pink peppercorn whipped cream, and you've pitched a perfect game.

Not entirely sure why I'm using baseball metaphors - I'm a football guy. Oh well... GO PIRATES!

Chocolate Lava Cake (with Cayenne and Sea Salt)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients (3-4 people):
For the cake:
6 oz. Dark or semi-sweet chocolate
6 oz. Unsalted butter (diced, room temperature) + 1 oz for ramekins or cupcake cups
3 Eggs
1/3 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp good sea salt

For the whipped cream:
Heavy cream
Vanilla extract
Sweetener (sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave, etc...)
Pink peppercorn (ground)

Equipment:

4 ramekins or 6 cupcake cups/muffin tray

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F
1. Melt chocolate in microwave, using 3 to 4 30-second bursts, stirring after each burst. When melted, remove and
2. Stir in diced butter, until melted
3. While microwaving, in another bowl, beat eggs and sugar until it starts to get frothy and whiten.
4. Gently stir in melted chocolate, and then the flour.
5. Butter 4 ramekins or, for smaller portions, 6 cupcake cups, and pour in chocolate batter until not quite full.
6. Bake for about 9-10 minutes for cups, 10-12 minutes for ramekins. Check often in the final minutes to avoid overcooking.
7. Run a knife gentle around the edge of the ramekins/cups.
8. Gently turn container upside down onto dessert plates or rack and serve immediately.

The Putting Lot

It's been a while since I've posted. Sorry.

That said, it's your last weekend to combine the inspiring spectacle of public installation art with the joys of Putt-Putt Golfing! It's The Putting Lot, and it's closing Sunday, October 4th!

Head out to Bushwick, where a mere $5 will get you a ball, club and the chance to play on 9 putting holes designed by 9 different artists in a formerly empty lot deep in East Brooklyn. Mostly designed from reclaimed materials, the different installations range from a pink soda bottle forest and lake to a storefront bodega where you have to shoot your ball through an old stand-up video game. The first hole is a clever simple stretch of "green" that is simply a photo poster of the garbage that was in the exact spot where the green sits.

It's easy enough to get to. Just take the L-Train out to the Jefferson stop, get out at the Jefferson/Wycoff exit and walk a block to 12 Wycoff. Done. Afterwards, grab some cheap tacos from the highly rated Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos, a few blocks away at 271 Starr Street (between Wyckoff Ave & St Nicholas Ave). There's a map on the link.

It's a mite chilly this weekend, of course, so take a jacket.

BudgetDate: Whatever You Like

The economy's a mess, people have lost a good portion of their net worth and prices are higher than ever; but romance and life aren't something you can press the Pause button on. So what's a boy or girl to do to keep on dating in the middle of a Recession Depression?

Well, here's the thing about dates: the point is to get to know the person. And vice versa. So rather than trying to dazzle with theater or concert tickets, or dinner at four-star restaurant, share something with them that you enjoy doing. Most everyone has a few simple, free activities that they enjoy: wandering around used bookstores, sitting in the park, trying a new recipe, window shopping, going to the public museum. Why not try to connect with a new special someone on that everyday level? Something that doesn't require a whole itinerary and reservations.

Here's an idea: look up a nice fall soup recipe. Then, take a trip to the local farmer's market with someone you want to get know better. Grab a cup of cider and some carbs, then walk around visiting the stalls, talking about whatever. Pick up the various ingredients you need, and anything else that appeals to the both of you, and then have her over for some tea and cooking.

Then you'll be cooking with gas*!

* Unless your stove is electric. Loser

BudgetFun: Live Karaoke

Now, as an Asian, naturally ANY karaoke is going to be great time for me. It's a little known fact that Karaoke is a Japanese word meaning "Asian guy singing Elvis songs."

However, this enjoyment is multiplied ten-fold when it's karaoke done to a LIVE backup band. Guitar Hero is great and all, but this is the way to REALLY feel like a rock star.

Plus, it's typically cheaper than regular karaoke - no per song charge, no room charges. You just have to wait your turn. Sometimes there's a cover charge, but often not.

There are three main live karaoke bands in the city to look for:

The Human Karaoke Experience:
This is a great place for live karaoke beginners. They're a super cool and relaxed trio with a mind-blowing playlist of 500 songs! Pick out your songs from their website and get to their events early as they have a hardcore group of regulars that always get there and fill up the first couple of pages rather quickly. Put your name down in the earliest slot available, then once on each of the next pages if you want to sing several songs during the night. They play in multiple venues so check their website for a schedule - I've gone to see them at O'Flanagan's Pub on 1st Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets. They serve food there too; I heartily recommend the O'Flanagan Burger for $9.95. Great size and quality of beef, with swiss cheese, mushrooms, onions and sour cream, and decent thick and dirty fries. Drinks aren't quite cheap: Gin and tonics are $6, beers are $7, but I don't drink so take THAT "the MAN!"

Punk Rock/Heavy Metal Karaoke:
The grand daddy of all live karaoke bands and NOT for the faint of heart. Formerly the house band for Arlene's Grocery's Monday night karaoke, they were rather unceremoniously bumped out of there in favor of one of their imitators. Arlene's loss, everyone else's gain. Then they played a regular gig at the Continental before that joint sold out and stopped hosting live music altogether. Now they play in multiple venues, primarily at Club Midway on Avenue B in the East Village. There IS a $5 cover, but it's worth it and the singing is free.

This is the hardest rocking live karaoke band in the city, with the band doing dead on renditions of a slew of heavy metal and punk rock covers, with nearly 250 songs in their playlist. The regulars can SING with a capital STFU, so make sure you're ready to leave it on the stage when you get up there. Again, get there early and sign up, as spots and songs fill up quickly.

Rock and Roll Karaoke at Arlene's Grocery:
The band which replaced the aforementioned Punk Rock/Heavy Metal Karaoke band is competent, but feature a rather meager song list. Still, Arlene's is a cool venue for all you hipsters and scenesters, so throw on your best ironic couture distressed t-shirt and head on over there on Monday nights from 11pm-2am for their live karaoke rockfest!

The band also plays other venues from time to time, so check out their MySpace for schedule info.