Enhanced

Miraculously I did not have any cheese cravings today.  I had my morning apple and brie and was fine for the remainder of the day. 

While I was in south philly, I stopped by the store to get a few things.  There was an entire wall of noodles, I suppose to supply the range of Asians in the area.  The pancit noodles were half way down the aisle, and the Thai noodles were a few feet further.  I wish I had picked up the basil and cilantro but I hadn't planned on needing them anytime soon.

I was finished with my hair appointment sooner than expected, this enabled me to cook dinner...it seems like I haven't cooked in ages.  I had taken chipped steak out of the freezer but I wasn't sure if it was going to work for cheesesteaks (sometimes chipped steak is cut too thick) so I thought I'd do a Korean style stir fry but ended up making pad kee mao since I had the rice flakes.

We enjoyed our meal but now I have a bit of a conundrum on my hands - the sauce for pad kee mao is basically a concoction of 4 sauces; although i made sure to avoid MSG, each sauce is loaded with sodium, hence the dish might as well be ramen noodles...maybe not that bad, but bad enough.  Fortunately we maintain a low sodium diet.

From cherries to cheese

I'm starting to think I've substituted my cherry addiction with cheese.  It's to the point now that I'm satisfying my hunger with cheese and a piece of fruit.  According to Mastering Cheese, the tyrosine in the cheese is fostering this addiction. 

I dashed to Whole Foods this evening between dropping my son off at soccer practice and heading to my daughter's second back to school night.  I bought concord grapes because they reminded me of the grape juice I used to drink as a child - I think this was a mistake though because my lips started itching, I kept eating them anyway, until my throat started to itch; I also picked up the metropolitan brie, but then I thought I should try something new - I met someone at the doctor's office yesterday that recommended Carlino's cheese shop and wished me well on my cheese journey - so I picked up delice de bourgogne and foolishly asked the clerk to help me distinguish between that and the brie.  He stated the obvious - it's softer and creamier - duh.  It was actually saltier, almost like a luxurious lebnah.

It's definitely time to move on from Whole Foods and perhaps brie.  Something about buying cheese at WF seems sanitized - the wonderful cheese smell is absent, largely because it's all wrapped in plastic...sucking the life right out of it.   

Addict

I have such an addictive personality. Every page I read in Mastering Cheese leaves me wanting more cheese. Fine cheese. I'm even seriously considering going to the blue cheese event at Tria next month.
Last night I went by Whole Foods on my way home from Brooklyn to get another piece of metropolitan brie, its buttery and smooth. I had a piece with an apple for my evening snack and repeated that with coffee this morning. It sustained me for 3 hours.

For my mid morning snack I decided on cheese again so I went to the Whole Foods in Plymouth Meeting and got a small piece of the cloth wrapped cabot cheddar because it was on sale, an apple, some trail mix, and a bag of Swing coffee.  Then I was faced with the cheese dilemma (and of course I didn't even bother to ask the clerks) - the pieces of metropolitan were too big so I went with soignon, a goat brie, because the piece was small enough for a single serving. It was nice but the rind was a little too thick for my taste.

Yup, totally strung out on fruit and cheese...for now.

Grazing grads

When I headed out the door towards a gathering in Brooklyn I realized that I was empty handed. I could have grabbed the cookies I made for the secretaries at my kid's school but then I would have had to make more so my only solution was a cheese plate.

I've never made a cheese plate AND I'm on a budget so I went basic: grapes, almonds, a domestic brie, and a bottle of pelligrino in case there wasn't a nonalcoholic option.  Buying cheese at Whole Foods is a non event - I wasn't confident that the "clerk" would be able to direct me to something worthwhile so I went inexpensive with metropolitan...it seemed ludicrous to pay a premium at a retail chain.

While we chatted about flooding vulnerability, urban farming, GMOs in Argentina, and the potential impact of nanontechnology; I grazed almost continuously on hummus, watermelon, sun golds, cheese, and the other snacks.  I followed that by a lemon verbana mint iced tea and a cup of potato leek soup (I had to pass on the chorizo/kale). I was literally stuffed by the time the panqueques con dulce de leche was presented but I had to oblige because it was authentically Argentinan.

Grazing beats snacking any day.

Chasing cheese

I have enjoyed cheese since I was a child, blue cheese in particular. When I think of good mac and cheese Its ooey gooey and made from a nice blend. I'm particular about pizza because nothing's worse than cheap mozzarella.

I didn't really begin to experience cheese until 10 years ago when I fell in love with prima donna and was introduced to asiago.  There are cheeses that I'm not fond of so when I'm at an event with a decent cheese plate I usually go for bries and blues with a bit of fruit.  However, it's been hit or miss when I buy cheese from TJs and try to pair it up with something.

In hindsight that seems wrong. If I won't buy "fresh" meat from TJs, why do I buy cheese.  It wasn't until I started reading Mastering Cheese that I realized should be thinking about cheese production the same way I think about meat production. It never occurred to me that a dairy cow would be fed something other than grass. I suppose that's why you can obtain "fine" cheese for a fraction of the cost.  I don't want my liquid dairy products made from cows treated with hormones and the same extends to cheese.

The book arrived today so I thought I'd read a bit before bed and thought how nice it would be to eat my last bit of brie with some cherries but when I went to the fridge I remembered that I had gobbled it all up. Its a good thing that I only buy 1/4 pound pieces because otherwise I'd be a cheese glutton.

This book has my name all over it. Its organized similarly to a textbook but written in an accessible narrative and its kind of set up like a self study course. After reading just one chapter, I've already learned quite a bit -cheese is jam packed with nutrients.  And now I know I don't have to force eggs on myself; instead I can opt for a piece of cheese and fruit and start my day off right, Mediterranean style.

I'm clearly going to have to reevaluate my budget.

Saturday night shanks

I'm really liking the randomness of this cow share.  Once weekly I send the kids to the freezer to get a pack of burgers, a pack of ground beef, and a roast or a steak.  I organized the freezer so that these items can be easily accessed - the liver and tail are on the door and everything else is organized by shelf.

I was finished earlier than expected today and I have to run to Brooklyn tomorrow so I thought I'd make the roast for a late dinner.  The roast was actually soup bones (ossobuco style).  As far as I know ossobuco is made with veal (and we all know how horrendous veal production is).  Nevertheless, I have no idea about the flavor and didn't feel like looking it up, so I went with what I knew, a stew. 

I seasoned and seared the meat, sauteed onions, carrots, and celery, added a bit of pasta sauce (because it was in the fridge leftover from my daughter's raviolis), and broth.  Then I let it cook and tossed in a clove and a sprig of thyme.  We ate it with cabbage and butter steamed potatoes.  Now that I write this, it sounds like a strange combination, but I'm literally just pulling meals together and everything was very flavorful.  Not a bad $12 meal.

Those shanks made some savory gravy.

Portion control

This budget thing is working out well.  Our dinner was less than $7 and we were all satisfied.  Yesterday I bought ONE bbq seasoned split chicken breast on sale at Whole Foods.  It was slightly over a pound so I thought we would be able to have decent portions.  Our sides were yellow grits and collards. 

We've been eating so much beef that the kids assumed it was a roast and since we rarely eat chicken, their next guess was fish.  That Le Creuset grill pan does a spectacular job with meat. 

To my daughter's chagrin, there were no cupcakes for dessert.  I did however brew raspberry riot & lemon youkou, added some raw agave and cold water and sipped it from my argo tea jar.

Prosperous palette

I knew I was in for trouble when my aunt suggested that we "run down 9th Street" - of course that meant a trip to DiBrunos.  She bought her olives, tomatoes, and peppers and I bought seafood blend and artichokes.  Then we started the cheese ordeal.  I call it an ordeal because she never knows what she wants and her palate seems to change from week to week.  Fortunately Zeke is not only patient, but he is knowledgeable enough to provide an array of samples that will guarantee a couple of sales.

The French gruyere was more subtle than the Swiss counterpart because like wine, coffee, and chocolate - cheese is also impacted by terroir (cows are what and where they eat).  Today I went domestic with noble road, a raw milk brie style cheese from Pennsylvania - even the rind was delicious; and cabot's clothbound cheddar.  Needless to say, I ate it in one sitting and finished it off with a cup of decaf.

When you cross the threshold into DiBrunos you are transported back to a time when purveyors of food engaged with their customers.  These cheesemongers know their stuff such that I learn something new with each visit. 

Because I've only scratched the surface with cheese, Zeke recommended "Mastering Cheese" so that I can learn more - I've already placed my order on Amazon (I know that's a bit of a contradiction).  The only problem I have is that cheese is paired with wine or beer so I will have to find non-alcoholic alternatives to thoroughly enjoy the experience of cheese.  Izze, spritzers, sparkling cider and grape have always seemed a bit too overbearing.   Perhaps I'll have to learn a bit more about pairings or sample vignette or one of those fancy pants sodas like dry, gus, or 12...something with a bit more zing than varietal grape juice.

Multigrain

I've been trying to be a bit more frugal when it comes to meals.  I've been accomplishing this largely by making meals out of what's available at home.  This cow share forces you to experiement with various cuts of meat.  We had delmonico steak Monday night for dinner and it was very good of course - lightly seasoned so that we could enjoy the flavor of the meat and savor the fresh killed smell.  The only issue was that I hadn't planned the side dish. 

Eating rice again didn't seem like the best plan and we didn't have any pasta.  I wanted to try to make risotto because that's what they do on Hell's Kitchen, but my internet search led me to believe that using jasmine or basmati would be disastrous, so I used oatmeal.  Not the real stuff (steel cut), the old fashioned (flattened groats) cooked in broth, then tossed with sauteed onions, peas, and parmesan added for flavoring. 

Savory oatmeal is definitely a side dish worth perfecting.

Scraps & sweets

I still haven't made it to Hmart but that's just as well because I was forced to utilize the remnants of the refrigerator.  I did a fried rice for lunch with onions, garlic, ground beef, a bit of oyster sauce, carrots, celery, and frozen peas, and a bit of tamari.  Everyone loved it. 

We desperately needed a dessert so I did a brownie cupcake based on the Ghirardelli recipe on the baking chocolate bar - I just added milk and baking soda to make them more "cake like."

The biggest problem I've been having with this cupcake maker is the tops- my last few batches have come out flat - perhaps it's the whole wheat flour, or maybe I'm not filling them enough - but they always need icing to make them look like something.

I couldn't think of a complimentary icing- marshmallow fluff or caramel might be nice but I didn't have either in stock, so I thought about a caramel glaze but that wouldn't serve the purpose of providing height so I did a brown sugar cream cheese icing (yes, I'm running cream cheese in the ground) and I topped it with a morello cherry.  Needless to say, I had several...now I need to figure out what's for dinner. 

Ciao!

I was planning to boycott the kitchen until I went to Whole Foods to get a water refill and my friend asked what I was making for dinner...she was shocked when I said nothing and as I tried to explain my rationale I realized that I needed to suck it up and throw something together. 

I wanted to go meatless since we've been consuming so much beef so I thought a pasta with some sort of bean would be ample.  I knew I had a half box of capellini, so I decided on a white sauce - she suggested green peas so we read the nutrition facts and there are 4 grams of protein per serving.  Then she said, "too bad you don't eat pork because prosciutto would be great" - I told her I could substitute with turkey bacon and that's exactly what I did. 

Garlic, onions, cream cheese, half & half, mozzarella and peas over capellini with one piece of bacon on the side.  It wasn't the prettiest meal but my daughter said "it tastes way better than it looks" as she helped herself to thirds. 

Roving gourmet

On the surface my friend and I are an odd couple - there's age, culture, occupational, religious, and ethnic differences, however we mesh philosophically and intellectually...and we have a great time when we get together.  Unfortunately this isn't often because she moved to the west coast and has been traveling the world and working on reality tv sets for the past 5 years.

We were going to meet up for coffee but I had my one cup allotment this morning so La Colombe was not an option.  We headed to Center City and she suggested Tria.  I said ok but got a little nervous as we approached a wine-beer-cheese cafe.  We sat by the window and ordered water.

We ordered 3 bruschetta and enjoyed the brie and cherry combination so much that we ordered another.  We shared a smoked chicken and cheddar sandwich because she wanted to support local (Lancaster) cheese.  And the dessert was absolutely delicious - banana, caramel, and mascarpone panino.

From start to finish the meal was relatively inexpensive with appropriate portions.  Not to mention the great conversation I had with one of my favorite people. 

I plan to recreate the bruschetta with a bit of brie and the morello cherries in my fridge or perhaps some hydrated dried cherries. I also suspect that the dessert will become a household favorite.   

A quick treat

Yesterday I went to DiBruno's with my aunt and was captivated. I haven't been there in years but as soon as you walk in the door you are greeted with an assortment of pickled treats and the pungent aroma of cheese.
I quickly told myself I wasn't going to buy anything. I fell in love with primadonna at DiBrunos almost 10 years ago, but I couldn't resist and decided to get a stuffed grape leaf and some seafood mix as a light snack.

I made the mistake of inquiring about the roaster of their house label coffee beans and I was sold when they said One Village, so I bought a bag of the family blend. 

My aunt tasted so many olives and so much cheese that she was stuffed by the time we left. She kept giving me stuff to try - I liked the gruyere, didn't care for the emmental, and parm regg is far too dry to eat as a snack. Then I messed up and had midnight moon, a goat gouda. I love chevre cheese but this was beyond expectations so I bought a piece AND a piece of primadonna. 

I came home home and brewed an excellent cup of coffee then went into sticker shock when I saw that midnight moon is $28/pound.

As seen on TV

My father-in-law is the king of gadgets.  He orders tons of stuff from infomercials and because I like to cook, he often sends me kitchen gadgets, many of which unfortunately are still in the package or haven't been used in years.  Saturday I received an Infrachef in the mail and I knew it came from him.  After dinner last night, my grandmother and I checked it out and it seems that it's basically a countertop convection unit powered by halogen, which is quite hot considering that headlights are halogen.  I will probably try it out to make a stew or perhaps steam fish. 

Then I remembered the Magic Bullet that he sent years ago that's still in the closet and the juicer that came in May 2008 (according to the postmark).  I said that I would pull these gadgets out and take a closer look.

There's no time like the present...

My son came home today very excited about the groothie he had in school.  He said it was delicious and that he wanted to get one everyday, I wasn't surprised since he loves Naked's Green Machine.  Of course that prompted me to whip out the juicer.  And I was pleasantly surprised that it was a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer that apparently produces less pulp and is easier to clean than standard juicers and it provides pointers about how to use the pulp (which I'm eager to try).  I  read through the recipe booklet and settled on my standard - carrot, ginger, apple and maybe a bit of lemon and beet for good measure. 

A word of caution...

As usual, I went into research mode so that I could optimize my juicing and then decided to put on the brakes when I came across all of the responsible juicing tips on the Juicing Book website - don't overdo it and be careful about mixing fruits & veggies (my dad used to have the same warning about my COSI's signature salad).  Both the groothie and the juices promoted by Arnold's mix kale with fruit so I guess I need to look into that a bit more.  Anyway, a word to the wise is sufficient, so instead of rushing out and buying veggies in bulk, I'm going to take it easy and see how the week goes.

Early Start

My son took a rump roast out of the freezer Friday night and I realized this morning that I wasn't sure how to make it.  I know that it's a less tender cut but I was torn because grass-fed beef contains less fat and requires a shorter cooking time so my only solution was to use the temperature probe. 

I didn't want to over power the meat with flavoring so I rubbed it (tomato & garlic paste & everyday seasoning) while it sat out of the fridge.  I created a bed of sliced onions tossed with grapeseed oil; added a 1/2 cup of water, then poured a little mustard vinaigrette over the beef.  I sprinkled with kosher salt then cooked on 500 for 30 minutes.  There was one snafu - aapparently setting a wet pot on a hot oven glass results in a crack.  The inside glass on my oven door is now cracked but according to the various online forums, it's still safe to use.  I will call Kitchenaid tomorrow to order a replacement. 

After 30 minutes, I reduced the temperature to 275 and before I knew it the beef was done.  I had started early because I assumed it would take a long time, but my meat was ready by 11am.  Next time I would probably drop the temperature to 250 to account for the convection and possibly extend the cooking time.

When I called my grandmother to invite her over I told her that I had no sides and would have to dash to the store.  She told me to go back to the fridge to try to pull something together because it didn't make sense to run to the store and buy something.  I had corn on the cob, a bag of frozen haricots verts, a bag of baby carrots, and a bag of sweet potatoes that had seen better days. 

I sauteed the green beans with onions, garlic, and tomatoes; pressured cooked the carrots and potatoes in fruit juice; and roasted the corn-on-the-cob in the oven.  I made a gravy out of the onions and drippings to heat the meat.  The meal really came together and the best part was that we ate by 4pm (I haven't eaten Sunday dinner that early in ages).

Unfortunately my grandmother didn't have enough notice to bake a cake but because everyone expects her to come bearing dessert, she stopped and bought a sweet potato pie and a rum cake.  The dessert wasn't bad but it wasn't anything to write home about either.  Homemade and store brought (or box) cakes are two entirely different things.  My son decided to read the ingredients and boy were we in for a shock.  My grandmother kept saying - why do they have to put so much stuff in it?  Shelf-life, texture, and cost were the only possible explanations.  Next time, she'll just pick up ice cream.

Minced

I am not a fan of minced meat - I think it's the texture.  And other than shepherd's pie, stuffed peppers, or burgers, we didn't really eat much of it when I was growing up.  This is why I was a little overwhelmed when I received 10 pounds of ground meat in my cow share.

I had a rather hectic day and wanted to prepare something relatively quickly.  I thought that ground meat would go nicely with the biton pancit noodles I had in the pantry so that became the dinner plan.  My son and I cut up onions, garlic, and baby carrots.  I had a bag of shredded cabbage in the fridge that was on its last legs so I put threw that in the pan after the meat browned. 

I think just about any protein goes well with pancit and this was some good tasting beef.

Cookie cake

Ghirardelli chocolate chips were on sale at Target so I bought a bag and a bar thinking that I would make brownie cupcakes.  Then I thought how great it would be if I could make chocolate chip cupcakes.  I haven't had a chocolate chip cupcake or muffin that appeals to me - the cake part is always wrong. 

I decided to transform my cookie recipe into a cupcake recipe by just altering the proportions.  I got a little carried away when I decided to go multi grain - I used unbleached white wheat flour, barley flour, and ground oats - this resulted in an almost cookie like texture that I haven't yet decided I like.  The flavor is exactly what I was looking for, although I wonder if I might need to reduce the amount of chocolate chips. 

I couldn't resist making a chocolate cream cheese icing - it was delicious and really set the cakes off.  I'm not sure my son likes it because he commented that it tastes similar to the other icings I've made - what can I say, I'm not a buttercream girl.

Bessie

I was overly excited when I picked up my cow share today.  I don't know if it was because I'll be sinking my teeth into some quality beef or just the idea of supporting local food production.  The down side is the cost - if you cross the Atlantic below 30 degrees, a "grassfed" cow is $300 rather than $2600.

I have 1/8 (40 pounds) of a cow, half of which is ground meat and patties and the other half is steaks and  roasts.  In addition I have the tail and quite a bit of liver so I'm good to go.  The deep freezer I bought 10 years ago is back in use. 

I am designating Thursday as burger or salisbury steak night because I'll be working and that'll be an easy meal (probably with a frozen veggie).  I'm also going to have to have a spaghetti night but I would like to mix it up a bit by ethnicizing (yes I just made up that word) the meat sauce, varying the shape of the noodle, and rotating the vegetable.  I think my first dish might be a bechamel, then maybe some version of a pastitsio, and maybe even a nacho lasagna. 

Now that I think about it, there's plenty to be done with ground meat other than meatballs and meatloaf.  I could go Asian with wontons or lumpia.  And I'm sure pancit with ground beef would be tasty - I could put that in my pasta rotation. 

I'm so hyped!

Brokering crops

You learn something new everyday and I just learned about the guy that gets crops from global farms to supermarket shelves - it never occurred to me that there's a guy, a produce broker. But I guess there's always a guy that pulls the deal together, particularly with commodities.

He's based down at the food distribution center, negotiates pricing with farmers, and provides quality produce to retailers by doing quality control - particularly for those fruits that continue to ripen after picking.  Now it's even more clear why the hood gets seconds - it's all about the broker and I'm thinking there's less leverage in the hood.

I was so excited I couldn't contain myself and although I am a proponent for local produce I couldn't resist requesting onions and garlic and anything interesting that comes about.  I started thinking about how great it would be to have an endless supply of weekly produce - we could really step up our vegetarian game.  I  am so fascinated that I am trying to compile questions so that I can learn more about the transportation side of global agribusiness.

The kicker is, his wife, whom I met today only buys frozen veggies because she prefers to cook them in the microwave. I couldn't believe someone would turn down the pick of the litter, right off the boat, for flash frozen.

Seashore fare

When we go on vacation I generally try to buy local foods and cook daily to save money and to have something decent to eat; sometimes dining out gets old. This weekend we did a very quick getaway so we bought only snacks and breakfast items. My friend had recommended two must eats so that was our plan.

Saturday we went to On the Bay seafood for crabs (it was actually across the street from the bay). We spent $75 for my crab feast (I ate a dozen and a half), scallops, oysters, crabcakes, and sides. Everything was very good. The only problem was the selection of drinks - they had fruity malt cocktails and fountain soda; no sweet tea, no lemonade.  I guess that's what's available in a resort town.

Several hours later we were a little hungry so we decided to grab a pizza but this was no easy feat. There are pizza places all over town but there was no way to figure out which was going to have a decent sauce, crust, and cheese.  I looked through the guide and narrowed it down based on the menu selection (I wanted a pizza place not a place that had pizza on the menu) and how many inches they were passing off as a large pie (a real pizza place sells a 16" as a large). Then I went to Yelp for reviews and settled on Billy's which ended up being a good choice.

Sunday, after a full morning we needed breakfast and decided to go to Layton's because we thought you can't go wrong with a place that serves breakfast all day. When we arrived there was a crowd and we became apprehensive about the service so again I went to Yelp and subsequently ended up going to Brass Balls, a place I would've never visited because I assumed boardwalk food is subpar and the name is a bit seedy.  Everything was surprisingly good and it was nice to have a view of the beach. 

We ended our getaway with a visit to Shrimp on the Boat per my friend's recommendation. This was a disappointment. The carolina shrimp were fresh but over steamed. The gumbo was bland and the scallops were hood. We did buy 2 raw pounds (head on) and I cooked them today.

The one place I wish we had time to visit was The Shark, looking at their website, it seems that they might be the only place that takes food seriously in that town AND they source locally when they can. I found inspiration in their menu and whipped up a few tasty treats today.  I have embraced Old Bay.

I did a chesapeake inspired pasta dish - made a marinara from the local tomatoes I purchased on the way home, sauteed "bay" shrimp, and sauteed zucchini and served it over penne.  I also made a stock from the shells and heads (since I paid for them) - I added a few splashes and this added dimension to the sauce. 

I followed this up with a batch of banana cupcakes - we had some very over ripe bananas and I didn't want to make banana bread or banana muffins, so I made less dense cupcakes - they were very good and I ended up substituting barley for half of the wheat flour because I ran out so I'm going to postulate that they were a tad "healthy" despite the vanilla bean cream cheese icing. 

Later in the evening I realized there was nothing for dinner and our cupboards were looking a bit empty.  I boiled half a box of capellini, sauteed some onions and garlic, added half a bag of seafood mix and half a bag of chopped spinach, let that steam and then added butter, heavy cream, and the remnants of cheese I found in the fridge (romano, parm, provolone, and mozzerella).  The result was a nice pasta dish that my son said reminded him of quiche. 

Uninspired

I'm ready to move beyond ethnic cuisine but just can't seem to find any inspiration.  I was able to improve my biryani by combining the Indian yogurt based method with the Pakistani tomato based method - it really kicked up the flavor. 

I've been thinking alot about my specialities - it used to be roasted chicken but I'm not really a fan of chicken anymore...I do like whole roasted fish; I actually love fish but I'm not sure I've developed any flagship sides.  I think I'll experiment with that in the weeks moving forward. The issue is that fish is substantially more expensive than chicken. I will also be consuming more beef as I bought a share in a cow - 40 pounds will be delivered on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to it. 

I did stumble upon a bit of inspiration with a BabyCakes Deluxe cupcake maker.  I saw it in BJs and asked my cousin about it - I think it's what inspired her to perfect her cupcakes and open up a shop.  I don't care for the texture of the cupcakes I make so I thought that this would help me step it up but I had to ask myself if I really needed another kitchen gadget.  I got it as an Eid gift and made a batch of cupcakes on Thursday.

I've been wanting a slice of lemon pound cake for months so I decided to make lemon cupcakes.  The cupcake maker came with some recipes so I adjusted the vanilla recipe by adding lemon juice and zest and substituting the sour cream for cream cheese.  The lemon icing recipe was basically a lemon buttercream and I actually prefer a glaze on my lemon stuff but I thought it would look odd so I made a lemon and vanilla bean cream (similar to what you would find on a strawberry shortcake) and it totally hit the spot.