Arcadia Cafe in Ames

My username for my TripAdvisor account is Travelforcoffee. I could easily take a vacation simply based on wandering to coffee shops. I could have one place scheduled for the morning and one for mid-afternoon, then sightsee while the caffeine wears off. I do have my limits with caffeine. 

I find a lot of joy and excitement in going to new places or revisiting ones I love. I have a mental list of the coffee shops in Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Chicago that I'm wanting to go visit. Two of those aren't justifiable day trips for me so I'll get to them eventually, maybe KC sooner. 

Today's post is a little different as I'm just going to review and tell you about a place that's worth a visit when in Ames. 

I haven't spent a lot of time in Ames but it is home to Iowa State University and is about 40 minutes north of where I live in Urbandale. I've been here for music events mostly. All-State band is hosted here. I was here for my student's honor band in 2014, which is when I first discovered Arcadia Cafe. I remember loving the tree truck slice tabletops and quality coffee. With my extra free time in the summer, I thought I'd revisit.

Arcadia is part of campus town, just south and a little west of campus, off of Lincoln Way. As, I'm typing, the owner is talking with a customer about a potential move to a new location in town. Sounds like it will happen this fall!

Why would they move? Well, the location in town is great but the store is small. There are about 7 tables with seating for 2-4 people. So, a new shop would serve them well. 

Above is my almond croissant. It was warm, flaky, and tasty! I asked the owner if they make all their baked goods here and they do! They have scones, muffins, bread, cake, and sandwiches. The prices are very reasonable. I got a small latte and almond croissant for $6. The latte was good but I've had better. There was a little crema (the brown layer) on top which means the espresso pull was done correctly.

Because I've been sitting here for about 2 hours, I also got a pour over of their Guatemalan coffee. I know owners have respect for their own roast when they offer a pourover. This is a fresh, individualized way to brew coffee. It does take a couple of minutes but allows you to truly taste the flavor of that specific bean. I love medium roasts and Guatemalan is often roasted to that degree. It has good body to it and a slight acidity. My 12 oz cost $2. 

Summary review:

4 out of 5 stars

-Seating for small groups (2-4 per table)
-Free wi-fi
-Offers breakfast and lunch options
-Pour over coffee, lattes, Italian soda, smoothies

Arcadia Cafe provides quality products at a great price from friendly staff. The store is small and the work space looks cluttered but a potential new location should improve that for them. 

Worth a visit if you're in the area!

Roasted Tomato, Pesto Pizza

You've all probably made homemade pizza before. It's fun to make and you can please everyone when you let them top their own! We used to make it growing up and mom would let us put our own toppings on. Back then my kid-friendly pizzas had zero veggies. I loaded mine up with sauce, meat, and cheese! My pizzas have grown up a bit with me and now I've gone the complete opposite with toppings.

Toppings are the fun, easy part of pizze for me. You can be creative and try new combinations without totally destroying it. (Unless of course you were to add something strange like celery. Don't you try to tell me celery is tasteless, not true.) What I've struggled with is the crust. I've tried making it from scratch many times and just can't get the right texture. It's usually a little too soft and the slices droop. But not today!

The Delallo superfine flour saved me as well as cooking the crust almost all the way before adding the toppings.

Usually in my posts I include what I've been learning from my Bible Study or life in general but I'm not coming up with anything that doesn't feel forced. I think that's simply because what I've been studying is small, specific sections of John that I can't yet put into an overall thought. So, here's a taste of what the book is like that I've been going through.

Kathleen Nielson is a professor of literature and has written the Bible study book I'm using now. She does a great job of getting the reader to look deeply at a passage and help them (me) understand the context, connections, and application within that passage. Sometimes I don't fully know what answer she is looking for so I have to skip a question or come back to it later. 

Chapter 2 is where I'm reading now (one chapter of John per week) and she's making some cool connections about Jesus' presence at the temple during Passover. After reading in Exodus about the original Passover, it clicked that Jesus being in the temple, talking about his future crucifixion is kind of ironic. Here is the ultimate sacrificial Lamb standing where many burnt offerings have been offered for sins. Now, He has come to be the only sacrifice we need for forgiveness from God. 

She makes you think. I'm excited to see what else I'll learn.

Back to pizza! To be honest, I don't measure very often. If I'm baking I do because you can mess up baked goods pretty easily. But with this pesto, you can throw in more basil leaves or garlic depending on what flavors you want to stand out. It's also best to mix the pesto ingredients in a food processor. I just have my Ninja blenders which work well but not as well as a real processor.

Melted fresh mozzarella is so good! If you can't find fresh, I understand. The bagged, shredded cheese will do the job, but trust me, fresh is better!

Roasted Tomato, Pesto Pizza

Makes one 12 inch pizza (6 slices)

Crust:*

Delallo superfine flour (I used half the bag and halved the instructions on the package, listed below)

1/4 tsp yeast

2/3 cup lukewarm water

1/2 tsp salt

Toppings:

8 oz fresh mozzarella

-sliced in 1/4 inch (or thinner) slices

Roasted tomatoes

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes

2 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp oregano

Pesto

1 garlic clove

5-6 fresh basil leaves

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

2 tsp salt

2 Tbs pine nuts

1/4 cup olive oil

1. Prepare the pizza crust in advance if it needs to rise. Mine did. You should be able to refrigerate the dough for a day or two after it has risen if needed. 
2. Preheat oven to 350° F. Slice the tomatoes in half and toss in olive oil and oregano. Spread them out skin side down on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Put in the oven for 20 minutes. 
3. Put pesto ingredients into a blender or food processor. Blend until ingredients are fine. 
4. Increase oven temp to 450° F and press out pizza dough on an oiled pan to desired thickness. Use a fork to poke holes all around the dough to prevent bubbles. Bake for recommended time on package. (I baked mine for 10 minutes)
5. Take the crust out of the oven and spread the pesto evenly over it. Then place the roasted tomatoes all around the crust. Finally places slices of mozzarella on top. They will spread, so don't get them too close to the edge. 
6. Place pizza back in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Keep an eye on it and take it out when the cheese has melted well. Enjoy!

*any pizza crust will work fine, this one was just a brand I wanted to try:)

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Summer. I love it. Not because school is out (but it's awesome to have built in vacation time), but because the days are long and the temps are high. While I don't love sweating, I do love not shivering and having to wear three layers everywhere. 

I also love the food of summer! Blueberries are in season and are probably my favorite fruit. Adding the lemon to these muffins makes them taste bright and summery. 

Every summer I have the same dilemma when I think of what to do with my time away from teaching. It's not something I feel I've mastered yet. I've been reading Andy Stanley's book "Ask It" with a friend from church and this last chapter challenged me with how I use my time. It came at the right time as I don't have anymore big trips planned for the summer, so I need to make the most of my day to day activities. 

Ephesians 5:15-16 "Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk - not as unwise people but as wise - making the most of the time, because the days are evil."

When I look at what matters the most in my life, the top three things are my spiritual walk, relationships, and my career. I want to invest in those areas and not waste my time on things that don't accumulate value over time. So, as I was thinking about these priorities, I realized that blogging, while a fun hobby, is not really benefitting those areas. Meaning, I'll only be posting when I feel the time allows and I have worthwhile food pictures to post:) What I should do with my love of food is invite you all over to eat the food and spend time with you face to face! So, who wants free food and conversation?!

I just counted and I've pinned over 20 recipes involving blueberries...too much? Nah. They're so tasty and pretty.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Makes 11-12 muffins. Bake time: 18-20 minutes.

• ½ cup whole wheat or white whole wheat flour
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups rolled oats
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• zest of one lemon
• juice from half a lemon
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond)
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbs light tasting oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup of blueberries, fresh is best

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or grease with butter.
3. Combine all dry ingredients into a large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl whisk together the lemon juice, milk, egg, oil and vanilla.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until all of the ingredients are combined. If the batter seems too thick, add a couple tsp of milk. Then carefully fold in the blueberries.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups.
7. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes until muffins have a golden edge and a toothpick comes out clean.