Slumming it at the candy machine with some leftover Taiwan treats

Since no one signed up today we took a trip down to the candy machine on the first floor and grabbed some of their mini-chocolate chip cookies and some M&M peanuts.  Hey, at least we had something.  The only thing to be said about the cookies is that they are very similar to Chips Ahoy and have that we have clearly been mass produced taste!

The bounty from the candy machine!

And something else we found!

Mini Chips Ahoy and M&M peanuts - as American as you can get!

Once we got back we found we still had some fo the treats from Taiwan left. These are chewy, nutty circular candies that I described as nougat since they taste and have a texture just like European nougat candies.  Our colleage from China did not know the word for them in Chinese but looked on the package and found that the Chinese characters for these are pronounced Nou-at which the colleague presumed meant they just took the work into the Chinese language. 

Still had some of these left!!

What the Chinese call Nou-at!

These candies are pretty good and are the second Taiwanese treat we have come to know the other being the pineapple cakes!

Cherry cheesecake for Mardi Gras

Today is fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, the final day of Carnival as Ash Wednesday tomorrow marks the beginning of Lent.  We frequently arrange to have a king cake delivered up from NOLA but didn't realize the day was coming up until it was too late to order one. Oh well! So instead we had to settle for a cherry cheesecake from the Vienna Bakery in Barrington, RI, one of our favorite and most frequented bakeries thanks to all the folks who work here and live in Barrington.

Great looking cherry cheesecake!

View from the top showing cherries held back by the whipped cream.

The cake looked great with a nice pool of cherries surrounded by whipped cream and white chocolate shavings.  The cheesecake was classic New York style - dense but not too heavy.  Cherry cheesecake is probably one of the best and this was no exception.  It was creamy and not too sweet and very well received since many who were there happen to be very fond of cheesecake.

Cherries and cheesecake go well together!

Whipped cream and white chocolate finish!

Classic New York style - thick layer with the fruit on top!

Mardi Gras prompted a little discussion about religion but nothing too serious.  A colleague from China explained how Mao was made out to be godlike only to die and burst the bubble of his immortality.  Wondering if this was similar with Jesus Christ but it was pointed out that Christ supposedly came back so he didn't disillusion quite the same way.  As a matter of fact that return is celebrated in another 40 days when it is Easter!

A quick cake from Stop and Shop!

Someone had to make a quick errand and since it was near and available Stop and Shop why not run in and get a quick cake for Friday afternoon!  It was like bakery Grab and Go. The choice was an Apple Cinnamon Crumb Cake.  As you can see a square yellow coffee cake, covered with a cinnamon streusel and with apple compote or something similar sort of swirled between the cake and the coating.

Grabbed it and went!

It came with a quick remove cover. Underneath there was an enticing layer of the streusel. 

Nicely strewn streusel.

The cake itself was very moist, not too sweet and the apples and cinnamon were nice additions to an otherwise standard coffee cake.

Apple cinnamon gunk under the streusel/

Not a bad selection for a quickie cake!

Chocolate Cream pie for Chinese New Year!

Okay, it's not Chinese but we had the brunch earlier today so we are back to regular fare for cake hour!!  This is a commercial prepared pie which is not bad.  As it let's you know on the cover it is made with real whipped cream. None of that vegetable based whipped stuff.  This alone makes us like it!!  The filling is pretty chocolatey and the crust is always moist.  This is never a bad choice for cake hour!!

Right from the bakery refriverator!

Nice thick layer of the real stuff!

The view from above!

Chocolate drizzle and chocolate shavings for decor!

Dark chocolate filling and moist thick crust!

Good cake hour choice to ring in the new Year of the Pig!

It's the Year of the Pig!!

Chinese New Year is upon us!! We are beginning the Year of the Pig!  Since we now have several colleagues in the labs that come from China, what better way to celebrate our diversity and awareness thereof than a new year's luncheon!!  So we got together a pot luck feast to help ring in the New Year.  The homemade food was delicious, varied and quite satisfying.  We had everything from dumplings to noodles; spicy beef knuckles to chicken; Thai (not Chinese) soup and an obligatory rice cooker with white rice.

The feast is taking shape!

Not a bad spread!

Dumplings and soup!

Stuffed tofu, noodles with pea pods, roast duck, beef and spicy tofu and pork!

Chicken wings, tenders, noodles with shrimp, noodled with veggies and that beef knuckle in the front.!

It was quite a meal with plenty to choose from regardless of your taste. And despite how it sounds, the spicy beef knuckle or whatever was quite good!!

Another one heads back home..

Today was the last day in the lab and the last cake hour for one of colleagues from Harbin, China.  To mark her departure she brought in a lovely fruit tart for us to share. We, of course, did our customary Brown gear makeover to send her off with mementos of her stay with us. And of course we had to take a few parting shots!! Typical for anything from the Vienna.. the tart was very good and made for a nice celebratory treat to finish off our colleague's stay.

Nice looking fruit tart from Vienna bakery!

Well laid out fruit design!

We like how the strawberry greens add a counter color!

The usual - crust, pastry cream and glazed fruit!!

And it's makeover time!!  To send her on her way we got a lovely red - lucky color in Chinese culture - Brown sweatshirt with an embroidered logo, a white Brown med hat and being scientists a mug with Brown spelled out using symbols from the periodic table.  She is all set to turn heads back in Harbin and drink tea while drink tea while reminiscing about cake hour.

The makeover gets a thumbs up from the husband!

All smiles!

And more smiles!!

10 second cake hour shot with the gang!

Final pose with a research dynamic duo!

Fixing a cracked Birthday cake with classy toothpicks

Today we celebrated a birthday.  The celebration took place a little earlier in the day because the celebrant had to leave for another birthday event. But one of her associated wanted to bake a cake for her. And so she did. She made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and fresh raspberries for filling and garnish on the top.  We appreciate the effort, of course, but didn't get to compliment the baker because she got on a bus to Martha's Vineyard after leaving the cake and wasn't around when we celebrated. Whatever!

The cake looks a little stressed!

Deep crevasse caused by the liquid frosting!

The extent of the fissures!

The cake was ambitious but not overly so. Upon completion of the assembly, however, the more fluid than usual frosting proceeded to carve crevasses in the cake leading to a cracked appearance. To stem the damage the baker used toothpicks to hold the chunks of the cake in place.  Well, not really toothpicks but those cocktail or deli sandwich umbrellas is what she had however to use for keeping the cake together the umbrella tops were removed.  We didn't quite understand why she just didn't have regular toothpicks so we asked why she had umbrella toothpicks so we asked.  When queried as to why she had umbrella toothpicks the answer was "because I have class!" Well, who knew!

The birthday girl and her unique birthday cake!!

Dreading having to blow out the candles and it took awhile!

Cracked or not the cake was very good!!  I had very moist cake with a butter cream frosting that was not overly sweet or fatty.  The raspberries were a great touch. To top it off there was some vanilla ice cream which always go well with chocolate cake and that was the case this time too.  Cracked cake or not, it was a nice celebration.  Congrats to our birthday girl and thanks to the classy baker who was nowhere to be seen!!