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