Happy Tuesday LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers!
This is Day Two of my "Ohhhhhhh America" week - blog posts that will have you shaking your head in shame. While I usually do my "new product review" (products that are new or new to me) on Wednesdays, I am extending that spirit throughout the week with things that are head shakingly American.
Growing up in Minnesota, I love Perkins' Restaurants because I love being able to get breakfast foods at any hour of the day. (As an American, I think being able to get breakfast any time I want it should be a right not a privilege! Ha ha ha!) Two years of my high school youth was devoted to going to see the midnight showings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" with friends and then heading to Perkins for some 3 a.m. pancakes.
It is a scientific fact that 3 a.m. pancakes taste better than pancakes eaten at 9 a.m. And by scientific fact, I mean unfounded personal opinion.
Unfortunately in Tampa Bay, there are not many Perkins' Restaurants anymore. The two closest to me, closed. I suspect due to the local popularity of "Village Inn" (which is known as Bakers Square in the Midwest - formerly the chain known as Poppin' Fresh Pies which used to have the Pillsbury Dough Boy as its mascot.) In Tampa, the Perkins and the Village Inn used to be located on the same street. Evidently Village Inn won that turf battle.
I actually prefer Perkins' food to Village Inn, but for whatever reason I went to Village Inn more ... not sure why as they were once so close to each other proximity-wise from me.
So every now and again, when I am in an area near a Perkins Restaurant I stop to have breakfast at a non-breakfast hour and give a toast to my long ago misplaced youth.
Last Saturday, I was driving back to Tampa from Orlando after real estate shopping with Mr. Cardamom Monroe. I was tired, which is not a good thing when driving at night. I saw a sign for the Perkins and decided I needed to get some coffee ... and pancakes.
I sat down in the booth and was amazed how many people were having dinner at Perkins at 9 p.m.-ish on a Saturday. Evidently this Perkins in "I don't know where I am, somewhere between Orlando and Tampa, Florida" was a hopping spot.
I looked at the table tent and saw this ... a celebration of all things summery and lemony.
I was intrigued by the Luscious Lemon Cake Pie pictured. It looked delicious. But also, what the heck is this new trend about putting cake in a pie crust and calling it pie? Is this some sort of delayed calculated revenge for Boston Cream Pie - the cake that is not a pie? Ohhhhhh America! Village Inn had a similar "cake in a pie crust" concoction several months ago and I was equally as confused then as I am now.
I love living in America and being born an American. But I have to say there is something so truly American (in good ways and bad ways) in thinking about a dessert and saying "I know, let's put the CAKE in a PIE crust!" There was an old Saturday Night Live "Taco Town" sketch that makes me think of how American we are to put one kind of food into another kind of food (see the sketch here).
But back to my mission ... caffeine and pancakes. Perkins' has awesome pancakes. Hands down better than Village Inn - flaky, buttermilk-y tasting ... just delicious.
After pancakes and coffee, there was no way I had any room for pie ... much less cake in a pie crust. But of course there are always "to go" containers! I took a piece with me and had it the next day while watching shameful reality television on the Bravo network. Ohhhh America.
The verdict? The Luscious Lemon Cake Pie was indeed luscious. Tart but intensely sweet with spongy, moist layers of cake. However like most American desserts, it was overkill in a pie shell.
Basically from what I can figure out is that they took a baked pie shell, lined it with super sweetened whipped cream and then plopped a frosted cake in it and then filled the edges with even more super sweetened cream. I wanted to scoop out the cake and leave the bland pie crust and excessive amounts of sugary almost separated whipped cream behind.
When I was a kid I loved whipped cream - the more the merrier. I am not sure when or why but sometime in the last maybe five years, I have lost my zeal for massive amounts of it. It's sad, really! I still appreciate a generous dollop of lightly sweetened cream, but when things are drowning in sugary cream it seems like a complete waste. (Same can be said for drowning things in sauces or gravies. Stay tuned to LilyOnTheLam.com's Ohhhhh America week for more posts with this theme!)
When I was growing up (and honestly still to this day), my Mother used to blather on about liking things simple and natural. Just the way they are. She'd rather have a bowl of strawberries than strawberry shortcake. She'd rather have a plain baked potato than one loaded with butter, sour cream, bacon, cheese and green onions. So I feel like an abbreviated version of my mother when I make the statement about Perkins' Luscious Lemon Cake Pie -- "Did you really need to put this nice cake in a pie crust?" I liked the cake (although it was too sweet), but the bland pie shell and the extra whipped cream brought nothing to the party.
If you like lemon cake, check out this "pie" but you may want to do like I did and cut off the pie shell and the extra whipped cream. Unless of course you're a big cream and crust fan -- and if so, then you'll be in heaven.
Stay tuned all this week for my "Ohhhhh America" series of posts!
This is Day Two of my "Ohhhhhhh America" week - blog posts that will have you shaking your head in shame. While I usually do my "new product review" (products that are new or new to me) on Wednesdays, I am extending that spirit throughout the week with things that are head shakingly American.
Growing up in Minnesota, I love Perkins' Restaurants because I love being able to get breakfast foods at any hour of the day. (As an American, I think being able to get breakfast any time I want it should be a right not a privilege! Ha ha ha!) Two years of my high school youth was devoted to going to see the midnight showings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" with friends and then heading to Perkins for some 3 a.m. pancakes.
It is a scientific fact that 3 a.m. pancakes taste better than pancakes eaten at 9 a.m. And by scientific fact, I mean unfounded personal opinion.
Unfortunately in Tampa Bay, there are not many Perkins' Restaurants anymore. The two closest to me, closed. I suspect due to the local popularity of "Village Inn" (which is known as Bakers Square in the Midwest - formerly the chain known as Poppin' Fresh Pies which used to have the Pillsbury Dough Boy as its mascot.) In Tampa, the Perkins and the Village Inn used to be located on the same street. Evidently Village Inn won that turf battle.
I actually prefer Perkins' food to Village Inn, but for whatever reason I went to Village Inn more ... not sure why as they were once so close to each other proximity-wise from me.
So every now and again, when I am in an area near a Perkins Restaurant I stop to have breakfast at a non-breakfast hour and give a toast to my long ago misplaced youth.
Last Saturday, I was driving back to Tampa from Orlando after real estate shopping with Mr. Cardamom Monroe. I was tired, which is not a good thing when driving at night. I saw a sign for the Perkins and decided I needed to get some coffee ... and pancakes.
I sat down in the booth and was amazed how many people were having dinner at Perkins at 9 p.m.-ish on a Saturday. Evidently this Perkins in "I don't know where I am, somewhere between Orlando and Tampa, Florida" was a hopping spot.
I looked at the table tent and saw this ... a celebration of all things summery and lemony.
I was intrigued by the Luscious Lemon Cake Pie pictured. It looked delicious. But also, what the heck is this new trend about putting cake in a pie crust and calling it pie? Is this some sort of delayed calculated revenge for Boston Cream Pie - the cake that is not a pie? Ohhhhhh America! Village Inn had a similar "cake in a pie crust" concoction several months ago and I was equally as confused then as I am now.
I love living in America and being born an American. But I have to say there is something so truly American (in good ways and bad ways) in thinking about a dessert and saying "I know, let's put the CAKE in a PIE crust!" There was an old Saturday Night Live "Taco Town" sketch that makes me think of how American we are to put one kind of food into another kind of food (see the sketch here).
But back to my mission ... caffeine and pancakes. Perkins' has awesome pancakes. Hands down better than Village Inn - flaky, buttermilk-y tasting ... just delicious.
After pancakes and coffee, there was no way I had any room for pie ... much less cake in a pie crust. But of course there are always "to go" containers! I took a piece with me and had it the next day while watching shameful reality television on the Bravo network. Ohhhh America.
The verdict? The Luscious Lemon Cake Pie was indeed luscious. Tart but intensely sweet with spongy, moist layers of cake. However like most American desserts, it was overkill in a pie shell.
Basically from what I can figure out is that they took a baked pie shell, lined it with super sweetened whipped cream and then plopped a frosted cake in it and then filled the edges with even more super sweetened cream. I wanted to scoop out the cake and leave the bland pie crust and excessive amounts of sugary almost separated whipped cream behind.
When I was a kid I loved whipped cream - the more the merrier. I am not sure when or why but sometime in the last maybe five years, I have lost my zeal for massive amounts of it. It's sad, really! I still appreciate a generous dollop of lightly sweetened cream, but when things are drowning in sugary cream it seems like a complete waste. (Same can be said for drowning things in sauces or gravies. Stay tuned to LilyOnTheLam.com's Ohhhhh America week for more posts with this theme!)
When I was growing up (and honestly still to this day), my Mother used to blather on about liking things simple and natural. Just the way they are. She'd rather have a bowl of strawberries than strawberry shortcake. She'd rather have a plain baked potato than one loaded with butter, sour cream, bacon, cheese and green onions. So I feel like an abbreviated version of my mother when I make the statement about Perkins' Luscious Lemon Cake Pie -- "Did you really need to put this nice cake in a pie crust?" I liked the cake (although it was too sweet), but the bland pie shell and the extra whipped cream brought nothing to the party.
If you like lemon cake, check out this "pie" but you may want to do like I did and cut off the pie shell and the extra whipped cream. Unless of course you're a big cream and crust fan -- and if so, then you'll be in heaven.
Stay tuned all this week for my "Ohhhhh America" series of posts!
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