Soft Pretzels Like Auntie Anne's and Wetzel Pretzels

My name is Malisa and I have a problem. I occasionally go through food obsession periods. My current obsession is:

I've been buying quite a few of them at the mall. Pretzels are easy to make so I lugged out the old Zoji, dumped in the ingredients and pressed a button.  I started off shaping them and decided pretzel nuggets were perfectly tasty and required very little skill and effort.  I even made cinnamon-sugar and sprinkled it over one of the pretzels.  The other advantage to eating a mall pretzel at home is washing them down with frozen pina coladas straight from the old Margaritaville machine.  

The recipe below was adapted from Food Network and simplified using the dough cycle of a bread machine.

Dough:

1 cup milk (I never have whole milk at home so I always make my own using 3/4 cup 2% milk plus 1/4 cup half and half)

2 1/4 teaspoons SAF instant yeast

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon salt

Rest of ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

coarse sea salt

2 cups water

1/4 cup baking soda

1. Add all ingredients to bread machine and select the dough cycle.  The dough cycle of my Zojirushi bread machine preheats ingredients to temp before kneading and proofing so softening or melting butter is usually not required.  I think the Zoji does a great job but it's not perfect.  I usually help it along during the cycle to make sure all the ingredients get evenly mixed.  

2. At the end of the cycle, pour dough out onto a floured surface, forming an even mound. Cover the dough with a wet towel and let the dough relax approximately 15 minutes.  

3. Cut down into six even pieces.  Using your palms, roll each piece into a long rope.  If you want your pretzels to resemble the pretzels from Auntie Anne's or Wetzel Pretzels, you will have to roll your dough very long and thin because after shaping, the dough will retract and shrink back a bit.  The shaping part doesn't have to be perfect. 

4. Mix water and baking soda in a bowl.  The size and shape of bowl you will need depends on how you decide to shape your pretzels. Gently dip each pretzel in baking soda solution and place on lined baking sheet.  You will want to line your baking sheet.  Trust me. Either a silpat or parchment paper work. Sprinkle each pretzel with coarse sea salt.  Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for approximately 10-15 minutes.  

5. Transfer pretzels to wire rack and brush with melted butter.  Dunk or sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar if you are feeling a little adventurous.  I am pretty boring and pretty my pretzels with just butter or cinnamon-sugar.  I never order the "gourmet" pretzels covered with fancy cheese, pepperoni, or crunchies. I also always decline the dips.  

This recipe produces a soft mall-style pretzel. It uses a baking soda bath rather than a lye bath so the pretzels it will be very light in color.  It is best eaten the same day. If you're looking for a movie theater or ball park pretzels, buy a box of frozen pretzels and reheat them.  They come in a black box with a picture of a pretzel on it.

I just downloaded photos from my phone.  Below are random photos.  Some are recent.  Some are not. Some are photos of food and some are just random.

That's a salad.  There's spring mix under the mangos, apples, roasted tricolor fingerling potatoes, medjool dates, feta, and my own glazed walnuts.  I made it to take over to my department holiday dinner.

Hiking at Red Rocks Canyon.  

I wanted to make a gingerbread house. I took a picture of one instead.

Boyz II Men.

Another Vegas trip.  This time we stayed at a different hotel. The Encore gets a thumbs up.

Centerpiece at our company Christmas lunch.

Breakfast in Cabo.  The bartender used a cool contraption to squeeze the OJ.

Christmas Eve dinner on the beach.  That's a Princess cruise ship on the Sea of Cortez.

Divorce Beach on the Pacific Ocean side.  The waves are pretty rough and very dangerous for even the most experienced swimmers.  I turned around for just a second and was knocked down. Fortunately I was not pulled out into the ocean. 

Lover's Beach is in the background.  Lover's Beach is safe for swimming.

I chose to climb up the rocks because I thought it would look cool.

I had to find a way back down.  I jumped and hoped for the best.

Cabo Beach Club on a small stretch of swimmable stretch of Medano Beach.

Menorah in the Marina district.

 Right next to the menorah was this sign.  I did enough climbing on the beach and so I did not attempt climbing into the "C" like other tourists.  When in Mexico, drink a Mexican hot chocolate.

 This taco shop was recommended by several people and was our original destination our first night in Cabo but we took a wrong turn and ended up at a restaurant we would rather forget about.

I was so full from eating, I barely managed to finish my two tacos.

My shrimp ceviche tostada Las Tres Islas. I also had crab and flan.

We've been getting quite a bit of rain in San Diego.  We took a drive up to Laguna because we miss snow. It does snow in San Diego County. I couldn't find my snow boots. Uggs are usually not my first choice for snow but it was either my really old Uggs, old Uggs, new Uggs, Fryes, or heeled boots. Since the decision to drive up to see snow was not planned, I put on my really old Uggs. My toes got a little wet even though they were treated with a water repellent spray. I didn't pick the best pants either. They are made from recycled plastic water bottles but were not very warm.  I thought about putting on snowboarding pants but felt a tad silly.

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Camping

We went camping at Palomar Mountain few weeks ago.  I kept the menu fairly simple since we were only camping for one night.

On the way up to Palomar Mountain, we stopped at Pink's Hot Dogs located inside Harrah's Casino. We walked around looking for Pink's. The casino is huge and appears to be quite the weekend destination. We looked a little out of place in the fancy resort/casino. I walked up to ask where Pink's was located and ran into a friend.  He pointed us in the right direction.  (He actually was surprised that we came all the way to Harrah's for hot dogs.)  I ordered a turkey dog and onion rings. We ordered way too much food.

We checked in at the park entrance. The woman working was less than thrilled to be working.

Since we were a little early, we stopped off at the pond and the urgent care.  Someone found a lure in his hand.  The closest urgent care was about 45 minutes from the campgrounds but I refused to go with Plan A. Lets just say Plan A involved pliers and a wire cutter. The park ranger also refused to have anything to do with Plan A. We ended up at Graybill Urgent Care. The folks at Graybill were great.

The pond was small but it was really pretty.

I sat at the edge of the pond and tried to soak in all the nature around me. A little kid walked by and said, "look daddy! He caught a log!" 

After a quick stop at the urgent care, we made it back before the park closed and pitched a small tent. The tent is not that small. It is a lot smaller than the two-room tent we had in Colorado. This tent is large enough for a single high queen air mattress with a little room to spare.  For this weekend, I wanted less fuss so I was fine with a smaller tent. It would have been nice to sleep a little higher off the ground and be able to stand up to change inside the tent.

I kept dinner pretty simple with shrimp fajitas. I sliced the bell peppers and onions ahead of time. We have a few camp stoves and grills.  I decided to leave the grills and larger stove at home and packed a smaller two-burner camp stove. I heated a 10-inch fry pan on the stove, added a little olive oil and added the onions. Once the onions started browning, I added the bell peppers and cooked a few minutes longer. I finished the onions and peppers with a little salt and black pepper.

I almost bought a cheap pan for camping but decided to just pack one of my All-Clad pans instead.

I peeled, deveined, and froze the shrimp a few weeks before our camping trip. They were still pretty frozen when I took them out of the cooler that evening. I was afraid they would defrost and be unsafe to eat so I put a pack of frozen Nathan's hot dogs in the cooler just in case. We didn't have to resort to Plan B for dinner.

I sautéed the shrimp in a little olive oil and seasoned them with a salt, pepper, chile powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, dried onions, cumin, Mexican oregano, and lime juice. I made the seasoning mix a few days before the trip.

Shrimp is great for camping because it cooks up so quickly. I had dinner ready in about 15 minutes. I used 26/30 size shrimp. 26/30 is my favorite size for most dishes. I bought several bags of U15 and they are still in the freezer because they're a little larger than I like.

Dessert included cinnamon crescent rolls and s'mores cooked over the campfire. I wasn't very hungry so I didn't eat either.  I didn't even finish my fajitas.

By the time the cinnamon crescent rolls and s'mores were finished, it was pretty dark out. The days have been shorter and with the unplanned urgent care trip, we didn't start cooking until a little later.

It was a long day so we didn't end up playing any games we packed. We tested out the air mattress, tandem sleeping bag, and down blanket and fell asleep with the lights on. These solar string lights from Amazon were pretty awesome. I thought they would run out of battery and turn off but after several hours, I had a search for the off button.

In the morning I got up and made breakfast. I cooked up some maple bacon in a large rectangular cast iron dutch oven.  I cooked diced potatoes in the bacon grease until crispy then added onions, bell peppers, and eggs. I ate mine without tortillas.  The hubby made a breakfast burrito and doused everything with Tapatio sauce. 

I made coffee using a Moka Pot and drank it out of a "vintage" Starbucks paper cup.

We sat by the fire for a few hours before tearing down camp and heading back to civilization. It was nice to get away from the city even if it was only for a day.

We stopped on the side of the road on our way down. It's not quite Colorado but still very beautiful.

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Vegas

I'm so behind with my blogging. I've been taking cake decorating classes for the past month and a half and I was out of town three times in the last four weeks.

The bf and I decided to take a short trip to Vegas around Labor Day. We booked a room at one of the new hotels in the new City Center. We were originally looking at Aria but then we found Vdara -- a smoke-free hotel. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke and since we wanted a quiet Vegas trip, it was the perfect retreat from the busy strip.

The hotel does not have a parking garage so we had to valet the car each time we took the car. The other option was to park in the Bellagio parking lot and take the short walk back.

This is a view from the Rio parking lot. Vdara is the shiny, crescent shaped building to the right of the Bellagio.


This is the covered walkway connecting Vdara to Bellagio.

Here's a view from our room of the escalator connecting the walkway to Bellagio.


Here's a view of the Bellagio pools from our room.


View of the Bellagio fountains at night. The fountain shows were as frequent as every 15 minutes at certain times of the day and we could hear the fountains from our room. I sorta like the crazy squiggly lines as a result of my unsteady hands.


Vdara charges a $15 per day resort fee that includes two bottles of water, internet and pool access. The pool area is now considered a dangerous zone. Here's a sample headline: "Vdara Hotel 'Death Rays' burns tourist." Apparently, the crescent shape of the glass hotel concentrates solar rays in the pool area. The media is referring to this as "death rays" while MGM is prefer to call it a "solar convergence phenomenon."


Here's the entrance to the hotel room.

The tiny kitchen is to the right.


Continue walking and you reach the little living area.


A flatscreen in the living area. There's another one just like it on the other side of the panel. I think it's kinda stupid. Who would have both tv on at the same time without a real wall dividing up the room?


Here's the second tv in the bed"room" area.


I really like the simple decor and the dark wood furniture.


The bathroom wasn't huge.


I loved the Aveda products.


This feature is pretty cool. It controlled the shades.


Here's with no shade.


Here's with the sheer shade drawn.


And the "blackout" shades drawn.


I stopped by the Bouchon right outside of the Venetian Theatre after picking up our Phantom tickets.


I think mine tastes a lot better.


The bf has never eaten at a buffet in Vegas before so I purchased a 24 hour buffet pass. We ate at the Planet Hollywood buffet (I think it was called Spices) after watching Phantom. I forgot to take a picture. The buffet is alright. I don't think I will go back. There are better buffets out there.


Breakfast buffet at Paris. The Paris buffet is a joke. I don't know who rated this as one of the top buffets. We had dinner there during one of our trips out to celebrate my future sis in law's graduation from law school. We hated the food and the service was terrible. I decided to give the buffet a second chance. The French are great with breakfast foods right? Wrong. The food was still terrible and the service was just a tad better. We even paid extra to cut the three hour line.


Lunch at the Lago buffet at Caesar's Palace. I think this buffet is one of Harrah's hidden gems. We had lunch at Lago so the selection wasn't extensive but the quality was great. The service was superb and the best part was probably the lack of a crowd. I tried a little bit of everything but my favorite were the corn, the crab legs and the mashed potatoes. Crab legs are served at almost all the buffets but these tasted fresh.


Our last buffet was at the Carnival World Buffet at the Rio hotel. The Carnival buffet was huge. The food area was the size of a football field. The food was not too bad considering the thousand or so items offered.


They have a nice gelato bar. I think this is the coconut gelato.


If you want to eat at a buffet off the strip, I recommend Lao-Thai Kitchen. They are located at:
1000 N Nellis Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89110-5318
(702) 453-9188
I think the lunch buffet was $6.95 and although the selection wasn't vast, the quality of the food was superb. The food was made in very small batches so it was very fresh and it tasted like the cook put a little bit of his/her heart into each dish. I had the pad thai, larb, fried chicken wing, sticky rice, papaya salad, oyster sauce napa cabbage, and tom kha gai soup. The papaya salad was made very gringo style but still had great flavor.


Another favorite off-strip places to eat is at Hue Thai on Spring Mountain Road. I really wanted Lee's Sandwiches but they were still not opened. They were supposed to have their grand opening in the Summer of 2010. Maybe next time. I ordered a grilled chicken banh mi and a pork flower roll plate.


And a random picture taken at the Encore hotel. I love the color combination at Encore.


The two pictures below were taken at the Crab Hut in San Diego.

I promise to post a recipe next time.

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