Thankful for Chocolate

Remember how my last post said that a good meal or good food can help a bad day get better? Well friends, there have been a few rough days lately. For this I am thankful. If I don't have rough and bad days, how will I ever appreciate and treasure the good and great days? While food didn't take away all of my frustrations, it did help. After all, I do love food! Let us get on with it.....

Today I am going to tell you about two delicious restaurants and one great recipe that you should always have.

As promised I am going to tell you about a "torpedo" which translates to happiness in the form of a true Belgium waffle. :) Downtown Salt Lake has just the place for you! It is at Bruges Waffles and Frites. They take a Belgium waffle and then fill it with real Belgium chocolate(which if you have had true European chocolate, you know the difference between this and a Hershey's bar). Then they have toppings for it. I have only tried the fresh strawberries and creme fraiche (which is your thick cream). I seriously died and went to heaven! It had the perfect amount of crunchiness to it. I have also been told by a friend that I need to try the speculoos spread....don't worry, I'm on it soon! I just have to make sure it is on a day that I can run. :) And, I don't like fries(I know, my friends have already told me that there must be something wrong with me) but I love the fries here! Go and try Bruges!
On to restaurant number 2, The Melting Pot in Salt Lake City. I have been here multiple times and I truly enjoy it. A few friends and I decided to get appetizer fondue and dessert fondue. We went at 8:30pm on a Saturday night. While our sweet server did her best to keep up with things, our drinks were empty most of the time and it took longer than usual. This aside, we still had a great experience. On to what we ate...
For cheese fondue we had the Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue and the Wisconsin Trio Cheese Fondue. I am originally from Wisconsin but it didn't rock my world. Now the Spinach one sure did. It had just the right amount of garlic and that was our favorite. For the dessert fondue, we had The Original with milk chocolate and crunchy peanut butter(hello, it already sounds to die for!) and the Flaming Turtle with milk chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans. While I prefer my desserts to be void of all nuts, the Flaming Turtle was completely worth those nuts! Both of the dessert fondues were a hit with us. So advice to you, skip the cheese fondue and go straight to dessert.
Now for the recipe. This is a favorite of most of my friends. It is incredibly easy. It is also chocolate! (It's kind of a theme today!) I call them Rolo cookies. I am sure many of you have had them but I have tried to master them. Here is the recipe and instructions:

Rolo Cookies
1 Box Triple Chocolate Cake Mix by Betty Crocker (NEEDS TO BE THIS ONE! Trust me.)
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil (Do NOT substitute Canola or anything else, it will taste funny if you do.)
2 Eggs
4 Individual Packs of Rolos

Mix cake mix, vegetable oil and eggs. Unwrap all Rolos and put them in the middle of the cookie dough so none of it is showing. Place on greased pan to bake. 350 f for 8 minutes. Bake them until there are little "breathing holes" in the top. I know that doesn't make perfect sense but you will see what I mean.

Do not overcook them. Don't try to move them for 8-10 minutes after they come out of the oven. But DO eat them when they are warm. Delicious!

Alright friends, that is all for now. I do have to say that Cucina Toscana is still my favorite in Salt Lake. (If you are wondering why, please see earlier post.)

Have a great week everyone!!!