Cupcakes and Cioppino

The past week has been crazy. I’m not entirely sure if I need 5 thousand things going on at once to feel satisfied or if scheduling just ends up that way all the time. For months now, I knew I had to give Neurology Grand Rounds on the 19^th. That’s great except for my need to procrastinate. It’s easy enough, they asked me to do an interesting case presentation. I had a young girl with Von Hippel Lindau disease I knew I wanted to present, not only for the medical aspects and learning but also for the social learning, helping patients cope in difficult situations etc. I waited until the week before to put together my powe point presentation. Yeah…. not the best idea.  Especially since Grand Rounds is a presentation for the entire neurology department for CME credit. Nothing like procrastinating a presentation for 75 to 100 people. But it turned out well and went off without a hitch. On top of that I was asked to be the team leader for the Stroke Team for the AHA Heart and Stroke walk in Sept. For that we needed to fundraise. Our fundraising idea…. cupcake sale. Great idea and I knew exactly where I wanted to do it. The conference room across from Starbucks. Get your coffee and then grab some cupcakes, perfect right? Perfect until they told me the only day they had the room open was the 19^th. I had to take it, it was the only day but I needed that room for maximal exposure. To top the week off, I had already invited all the residents and their significant others/families over for dinner on the 20^th.

So the presentation came together well. I’m on a light rotation and I finished it while at work over the past week. The cupcakes however were a challenge. I had 3 days notice to make as many cupcakes as possible to sell. I was slightly skeptical as to how many we would actually sell but my husband Josh knew they would sell well. My goal was 500, but I had a down and out migraine on Thursday so it put me behind. I managed to get 400 completed by 7:30am on Friday when we started our sale. Our flavors were as follows:

1. Devils food cake with bittersweet chocolate buttercream

2. Black bottom cupcake with cream cheese icing (oreo base with chocolate cake and a cream cheese chocolate chip filling.)

3. Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing

4. Strawberry champagne cupcake (glazed with a champagne reduction) with a fresh strawberry whipped cream.

5. Classic red velvet cupcake with a cream cheese icing.

If anyone is curious about the recipes I would be happy to share if you comment or email me. It would fill up pages to list all the recipes right here. A few are very detailed and tedious recipes.

This is what 400 boxed cupcakes looked like hanging out in Allison's room for the night.

So the sale was Friday, we officially opened at 8am and we were sold out by the time I started my grand rounds presentation at 1pm. We made $567 with selling only 400 cupcakes. I have to say going back I could have charged $2 for each cupcake and made more money but I feel fairly accomplished with what we did. It more than doubled the money we had raised for the Heart and Stroke Walk and we are officially over $1000. Total of 6 hrs of work on my part and 4 hrs of playing nice and selling them. Not too bad, I think.

I had a few people ask if I did birthday parties or other events which I said I would if I had the time. It would be fun to do that occasionally on the side.

Saturday was the night the residents were coming over for dinner. I had promised them a cioppino (which I have never made until that day) with crusty bread and my goat cheese bruschetta for appetizer. Here is how I made the cioppino (Italian fish stew for you of those who didn’t know):

My base started with the following:

2 cans crushed tomatoes

4 cans of chicken stock (I would have made my own but I had no reason to cook a chicken since it’s a fish stew. It usually works ok, but I suggest the low sodium and fat free version or else it will be salty and you will be skimming oil off the top of your stew)

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon of old bay seasoning

Lots of black pepper (didn’t measure but I’m guessing at least 2-3 tablespoons)

Garlic (I dropped in whole cloves that I had smashed with the back of a knife to cook and added about a tablespoon full of garlic powder as well)

Dry parsley (didn’t have any fresh, about a tablespoon full)

Now, I let this simmer all day long on low just to build the flavor, there isn’t really a definite need to do that but the longer it goes the more flavor you get from the spices. It could work in a slow cooker too. About a half hour prior to everyone coming over I pulled the bay leaves, whole cloves of garlic and tasted. Tasting your cooking is the most important part. It was good but I added a little more garlic powder at that time. Seasoning is all about your taste, what you like. I think I may have thrown in a little smoked paprika as well but I’m not entirely sure to be honest.

10 minutes prior to eating I added:

2 lbs of sea scallops

2 lbs of jumbo shrimp cleaned and peeled

1 lb of haddock fillets

I let this cook about 7-8 minutes then added:

2 lbs of king crab meat (I had picked the legs earlier that day)

The crab was already cooked so it just needed re-heated in the broth.

Then I served it with a crusty French baguette. It was a hit. I think the best compliment I got that night was the wife of one of my coworkers said it tasted like something her grandmother made she remembered from being a small child. I loved that. That’s the kind of cooking I like, something that has an emotional response. That really hits you and makes you appreciate what you are eating.

I made this recipe for 13 people, so for smaller groups you can easily size it down, but it also can be stored in the fridge and re-heated easily. 

Bruschetta:

2-3 lbs of tomatoes diced(used my own from my plants so I had cherry and roma, doesn’t really matter what kind)

1 jar kalamata olives diced (packed in water not oil…. oiled ones are hard to work with)

2 roasted red peppers diced (I bought them jarred because it was easier than making my own this time)

Shallots diced (total of about ½ cup)

Olive oil (I used a little less than a quarter cup, just enough to give you a little juice)

2-3 cloves of garlic diced

Salt and black pepper to taste.

Baguette sliced about a quarter in thick cut on the bias toasted in the oven until crispy on the outside but a little soft on the inside.

To assemble I take a piece of baguette and spread on a thin layer of goat cheese (I prefer the kind that already has the mediterranean herbs added) then pile on some of the bruschetta and serve.

The combination of the tang of the goat cheese and the salty of the bruschetta is amazing, that is why I prefer goat cheese, not everyone likes it so you could use any soft cheese.

It was a busy but really fun week.

Intro

So I have never done this "blogging" thing before. I think blogging sounds like a ridiculous term. But recently I had a friend suggest it so I could tell people about my creations in the kitchen. As I am guessing most of you know, I am by trade a neurologist. Fourth year resident, so this is my last year before I can officially go out and practice on my own. I apparently am a glutton for punishment, however, and signed up or a year long fellowship next year studying exclusively stroke (vascular neurology). With the hopes of being a hospitalist after I am done. Besides my day job (any one who is familiar with the system knows it is really more than just a day job) I have two small girls. Allison turns 4 in December and Emma is 13 months old. We have two large dogs and two cats. It's a full house here. I don't have a lot of free time but my biggest hobby is cooking and above just cooking, it's baking. I love baking. It's my passion. I would never give up being a physician, but I LOVE baking. Someday I will have the income and I will open my own bakery. Cathy's Cupcakes has a nice ring to it I think.
I can't tell you how many times over the past week I have heard, "You are a doctor, why do you like to cook and bake?" Everyone has their release, what makes them happy and de-stresses them. Baking is mine. Cooking is as well, but baking beats cooking in my world. It's my stress relief. If I have had a hard day or week at work it's nice to come up with a new different type of cupcake to try out.
I think having a science and chemistry background adds to that. Everything I make is kinda like a little experiment. I've always been good at chemistry and if you can do chemistry you can bake. Technically if you can read a recipe you can bake but if you can do chemistry you understand baking. If you understand the concepts of why things work then that is how you can bake without recipes. I don't have to measure everything precisely because I know proportions of about how much you would need.
I think having the ability to cook something great or bake something amazing gives me an advantage to connecting with my girls as well. Both are interested every time I am in the kitchen and want to be there with me. I hope to be able to pass on my skills to them just like my grandmother and great-grandmother did for me.
I have had a busy week this week, involving the baking of 400 cupcakes, cooking all the neurology resident's dinner and presenting my Grand Rounds presentation all in the same week. I just wanted to give a brief introduction as to what I hope to get out of my ramblings here. My next post will give more details about the past week.