Biscuits Make it Better:

It’s hard to believe it’s only been a few months since our world went upside down. There’s been a lot of progress and we are very grateful - the size of the response to David’s need for a kidney has been humbling and donors are now being tested. In the meantime, we’re trying to keep David’s blood work stable. It is easier said than done and relies heavily on a very special meal plan.

If his values get worse, we’re looking at dialysis or, you know... death. There are no ‘cheat days’ on this diet. Since we enjoy eating out and cooking lots of things, it has been very challenging.

What, you don't own a microgram scale too?

Fortunately, David already created a program that uses the USDA database to reference values on nutrients, so he’s been able to put items on ‘yes’ and ‘no’ lists. The ‘yes’ list is extremely short, for some good reasons. Kidneys filter out a lot of bad things that can build up in the body. David’s are barely operating, so that means he can't eat what his kidneys are not able to filter.

The first and biggest to watch is potassium. If potassium gets too high, the outcome is death with basically no symptoms beforehand. This has already sent us to the hospital once. Despite the interesting people watching at the U.C. ER on a weeknight, we are hoping to avoid more trips.

Second, phosphorus. Phosphorus and calcium have a working relationship. When phosphorus gets high, bones start to decalcify, also not a desirable outcome. Cheese is one of the highest sources of phosphorous, which makes pizza (one of David’s favorite foods) essentially the devil.

Third, sodium. Fluid retention is one of the biggest signs of dialysis need, and sodium excess contributes to it. To add insult to injury, sodium also elevates blood pressure, which hurts kidney function and David does not have any of that to spare.

Lastly, protein. Proteins metabolize into nitrogen based compounds, some of which are toxic if not filtered out by a working kidney.

Easy-peasy, right? Just don’t eat any meat or other high protein foods, avoid foods high in one or both of those two chemicals and banish the salt shaker.

If only. Potassium and phosphorus not only occur naturally in many “healthy foods” (greens, grains, fruits, nuts, beans) they also are used very heavily as synthetic preservatives or additives in the food industry. A real kick in the balls: they also are not required to be labeled on a product's nutritional information. Grocery shopping just got a lot more complicated, folks.

People love salt, and for good reason. Salt is tasty. But the amount of sodium David is allowed to have per day is extremely small, 1400 mg. That’s the equivalent of one bowl of broccoli cheddar soup from Panera. With no bread. For the whole day.

Even baking at home is particularly difficult, because so many recipes use baking powder, or as we have named it, “Death in a Can.” Industrial baking powder is primarily baking soda* with monocalcium phosphate, although some formulations contain potassium bitartrate. Do those ring any bells? It’s basically the worst things in powder form.

Despite all the barriers, David managed to create a biscuit recipe that won’t kill someone in stage 5 CKD and is enjoyable whether you are on a special diet or not. It’s hard to get around the sodium issue, since biscuits without salt are inedibly bland. But, a single biscuit can be worked into a sodium budget for the day if room is made for it. And the great part is that if you make them yourself, you can decide how much salt you’re comfortable adding.

Biscuit Recipe:

Makes 8 - 9 large biscuits

1 lb. (454 grams)	Cake flour**
1 slightly rounded tsp. (6 grams)	Baking soda*
1 level tsp. (4.5 grams)	Citric acid
1 level tsp. (4 grams)	Salt
1 pt. (454 grams)	Heavy cream
Optional: 2 Tbsp. (28 grams)	Butter for topping

* Always keep baking soda separate from baking powder in your mind. Baking powder is the bad stuff!
** Important: Do not use self-rising flour. It is premixed with salt and -- you guessed it -- baking powder!

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 500 F.

Whisk dry ingredients. Incorporate heavy cream by stirring briefly (less than 1 min), just until no dry flour remains. Dough will be loose clumps at this stage (below).

Turn out onto a dusted working surface, press out firmly to dough slab of 1-2" - 3/4" thickness. Fold over on itself a few times, forming a rough square shape, then press out again.

Cut into rounds, gently combining scraps to form remaining biscuits. Place onto light colored baking sheet, brush tops with melted butter if using, and bake in oven for 12 minutes.

You deserve rounds

Transfer to towel-lined basket, cover, and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve while still warm.

Estimated nutritional information:

Serving size: 1 large biscuit

Calories: 355

Protein: 5 g

Fat: 19 g

Carbohydrates: 41 g

Sodium: 375 mg

Potassium: 90 mg

Phosphorus: 74 mg

Otto's:

Some songs are happy songs. It’s practically impossible to not crack a smile or nod your head and sing along.

Take for instance, Africa, by Toto. The song seems to have become more popular recently for some reason, which I’m totally on board with. David, not so much, because when it comes on I start grinning and dancing like an idiot in public.

Along those same lines there are some restaurants that are happy places. Otto’s in Covington is one of those places.

Otto’s is open for brunch on Saturday and Sundays. We prefer the less busy Saturdays, and have been in for brunch five times now. We’ve tried pretty much the entire menu.

Brunch cocktails include a variety of mimosas and Bloody Mary. David and I usually start with one of those.

Now David usually only gets a Bloody Mary once or twice a year, but the ones at Otto’s are so good he hasn’t been able to pass them up. They have two types on the menu, distinguished by your preferred vodka infusion: garlic jalapeño or cucumber.  The garlic jalapeño is punchy without being overwhelming, while the cucumber is restrained and refreshing. The tomato base has clean fresh flavor and hasn't been over salted (like most premixes are). A splash of ale rounds out the recipe, to produce a superbly drinkable cocktail.

David is a huge fan of Benedict, so we started our first visit with that for him and the B.L.F.G.T., (bacon, lettuce, egg, fried green tomato, cheese and mayo) served on a toasted croissant, for me. For a side, there’s a tough decision between a nice thick and crispy slice of goetta, a fruit cup, or a phenomenal, fluffy potato pancake.

David's Benedict dance

The Benedict stays inside usual bounds for expected ingredients (poached egg, country ham, dill hollandaise), but adds its own signatures of cherry tomatoes and kale, all on a superbly crunchy grit cake. Again, like the Bloody Mary, all of the flavors are balanced perfectly.

Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you

Our next visit, David opted for the lox and bagel with a hard boiled egg, cream cheese, onion and caper. I couldn’t resist the pull of the biscuits and sausage gravy.

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do

The portion size for the biscuits and gravy is perfect, and the ratio of sausage to gravy and biscuit are excellent. I’ve gotten this dish twice so far. The eggs on all of the dishes we’ve gotten from Otto’s have been expertly poached, and this was no exception.

Our third visit, I once again went for the sausage (insert that’s what he/she said here) and grit bowl. David selected the breakfast casserole. I really enjoyed the fresh, bright flavor from the sauteed cherry tomatoes, and David’s casserole had plenty of melted cheese, sausage, potatoes and other tasty vegetables.

The following Saturday, we decided to order the lemon buttermilk pancakes we’d been eyeing, in addition to the crab hash. Dear Lord, those pancakes. Served with a tangy berry compote, sweet whipped cream and butter, these are as good or better than the ones we loved at Red Feather.

I bless the rains pancakes down in Africa  at Otto's Cafe

It’s not just the food that’s great at Otto’s. They have excellent iced tea, and if you ask nicely, make a kick-ass John Daly. Service has always been pleasant. The restaurant has a variety of quirky signs, lively abstract art, and adorable sets of salt and pepper shakers for each table and tiny bikes that hold sugar packets. It is, as I mentioned, a very happy place to spend a Saturday morning.

The biggest problem we run into at Otto’s is that everything on the brunch menu is just so damn good that it’s hard to choose a favorite dish. It’s a good problem to have. Throw in that it’s just a mile walk from downtown and I think we have a new favorite brunch spot.

Gonna take some time to do the things we never had...like go back to Otto's for lunch and dinner.

Cheese Party, take two:

As most of my friends and close acquaintances know, I have a little bit of a cheese problem. While some people can rattle off football or baseball rosters from memory, I have a lineup of what cheeses are available at which local stores. The cheese drawer--dedicated in its entirety to delicious varieties of fromage--overfloweth with wedges. I’ve bought an entire half wheel of cheese from the Party Source, and I don’t regret one penny of the eighty plus dollars I forked over for it.

Which brings me to the press release I received a few weeks ago. Many bloggers receive releases and pitches from PR agencies and companies looking for a leg up or some free publicity. In exchange, bloggers are sometimes offered free product to review or giveaway to their readers. I try to stay away from the giveaways, as there are other blogs in Cincinnati that are more into that kind of thing.

But the email below caught my attention. Applicable to my interests, clearly written, courteous. And a locally based company to top it all off. This is probably the one of the best pitches soliciting a post I have ever received.

“Hi Laura!

I saw on FoodBuzz that you are a Cincinnati blogger (or perhaps mentioned it in some way), and I was wondering if you would like to review our biscuits. We are a Cincinnati based company.

Daelia’s Biscuits for Cheese were created to enhance the cheese eating experience, whether the cheese is made locally or imported from around the world. Launched in 2009 at the American Cheese Society Conference in Austin, Daelia’s Biscuits for Cheese is still a new company. We currently offer three biscuits – Almond Raisin, Hazelnut Fig, and Pumpkin Seed Rye. All biscuits are twice baked and made in small batches to guarantee the perfect texture. They also contain carefully selected fruits, seeds, and nuts, and pair well with a variety of specialty cheeses. Our biscuits are all natural, high in fiber, low in sodium and crunchy – the perfect addition to any cheese plate.

Our biscuits are available in Whole Foods nationwide and various independent cheese shops. They can also be purchased online at www.igourmet.com.

Would you like to review our biscuits? We would be happy to send you some samples to review if you are interested in working with us. We would also be willing to offer samples as a giveaway to one of your readers. We only ask that you require readers to follow us on Twitter as an entry in the giveaway. Please encourage them to use our hashtag - #biscuitsforcheese. Also, suggesting that readers like Daelia’s Biscuits for Cheese on Facebook would be nice, just don’t make it a giveaway entry – promoting Facebook in a giveaway is now against Facebook’s Terms of Service.

We also encourage creativity in your review! We would love to know what cheeses you would pair with our biscuits with and why. You could also use our biscuits in a unique recipe to give readers other ways to use our biscuits. Feel free to really make this review your own. We would be more than happy to promote your review on our Facebook and Twitter pages (we have over 1,800 Facebook fans!) after it has been posted.
If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact me so we can send samples your way.

Thank you for time!”

While I still wasn’t willing to start doing giveaways, I thought that there might be another way to do a post, try out the biscuits, and eat some of my favorite cheeses with good friends. So I decided to throw another cheese party.

I also had done some inventory of our beer stash, which has been growing steadily for the past year, and decided that it was time to crack open some of the rarer and more interesting beers we’ve been saving to pair with the cheese and biscuits.

Tripels bottled in 2005 and 2006, and a nice Quaff Bros. collection

Kitty supervising the beer sorting

Tulum and Humboldt fog

I invited several friends, asking them to bring themselves, and their smartphones, and to tweet any thoughts about the biscuits. There were, of course, workbooks, complete with crosswords, coloring pages and wordscrambles.

Fancy Dolly Parton Pride Mouse by Maria

Some of our favorite combinations of cheese and biscuit are below.

Tulum with fig + hazelnut biscuit
Almond + raisin biscuit and salami with smoked mozzarella
Merlot BellaVitano with pumpkin +rye biscuit
Humboldt fog and hazelnut +fig biscuit
Hazelnut + fig biscuit and proscuitto and Beemster Vlaskaas
Hazelnut +fig biscuit and Habanero Jack

While I think these should be called crackers instead of biscuits--David was thoroughly confused until I showed him the website--whatever you call them, these are good. The ingredient list is also refreshing; no weird chemicals or preservatives. David also made some bread, which had a fantastic crunchy crust.

Smoked Mozzarella, 2 Year Cheddar and Habanero Jack

Everyone seemed partial to the pumpkin and rye biscuits, but David and I cast our vote for hazelnut and fig. Almond and raisins were also good, though they’ve got a little black pepper kick.

pretty, tasty biscuits

Vlaskaas, BellaVitano and Butterkase

mozzarella with spices

pickled veggies

David and I picked up another package of the hazelnut and fig at Whole Foods the other day, which we are looking forward to opening. The next day after the party, I lined up the damage on the counter, which is impressive.

Custom beer cups

the damage