Bagel Romance

via Oh Joy

Pie for Dinner...in the New Year...

Ever since Nikki told me about her friend's pie shop, Four & Twenty Blackbirds, I've been meaning to stop by.

I also keep forgetting to sign up for Pie for Dinner (described below):

Join us for an evening of savory and sweet pies with chef Nate Smith and Four & Twenty Blackbirds. Complimentary beer pairings provided by local breweries.

HOW IT WORKS

Arrive at Four & Twenty Blackbirds shop at 439 3rd Avenue after 7pm. Start with a complimentary glass of locally brewed beer and grab a seat at one of our candle lit communal tables. Dinner will be served at 7:30pm.

Each evening will feature a seasonal vegetable dish and a savory pie followed by a sweet pie. Complimentary beer pairings will accompany each pie.

Choose from the menus below and click on the date to reserve a spot.

November 7, 2010 (click here to reserve) *SOLD OUT*

Warm Cabbage with Wild Mushrooms

Rabbit and Root Vegetable Pie

Salty Nut Chess Pie with Maple Cream

Complimentary beers selected by Brooklyn Brewery.

December 12th, 2010 (click here to reserve) *SOLD OUT*

Leafy Greens and Herbs

Beef and Stout Pie

Cranberry and Sage Pie with Honey Cream

Complimentary locally brewed beers will accompany each pie.

January's menu will be posted this month. I must must remember to sign up. Who wants to go?

Baking by James Peterson

I've had this book for a little while now, but it is my go-to guide when I want something explained simply and clearly. James Peterson has also personally taken 1500 photographs that shows what it's supposed to look like at every stage. This is so incredibly helpful and makes it stand out from other baking cookbooks. Bravo!

Will someone buy this for me?

Doughnuts are among my most favorite foods. I've always been a bit hesitant to make them, mainly because I don't have a FryDaddy, but also the thought of deep-frying in a pot just scares me. I've been eyeing these doughnut pans for awhile now, and was reminded of them when I got my email blast from Sur la Table today.

Wouldn't apple cider doughnuts and hot toddies make for the perfect Fall night?

Cup-pie

I've been watching Pushing Daisies (on Tara's recommendation) and just came across this part of the episode in which Chuck (the girl) is proposing to Ned, pie-maker and owner of The Pie Hole, to start making "cup-pies," single serve pies with a honey-baked crust (since she's a beekeeper.)

Now, if anyone knows me, they know that I absolutely hate hate hate cupcakes. I love cake, but cupcakes are those annoying fads that don't go away; the cake part is never that great and the icing is always too thick and sweet. I would much rather eat a slice of cake.

More than cake, I LOVE pie, and this "cup-pie" idea is genius. Of course, I probably would prefer a slice of pie over it (I do love my top crust), but as a competitor to the cupcake, I say YES. Someone start making these and selling them. NOW.

Scandal in the English Muffin Business

A Thomas’ English muffin, right, and a competitor’s.

image courtesy of New York Times

The secret of Thomas' English muffins, its signature "nooks and crannies" may be in jeopardy. According to a recent NY Times article, Chris Botticella, a vice president of Thomas' parent company, Bimbo Bakeries USA, left the company in January leaving co-workers to believe he was retiring. However, Botticella took a job with rival company, Hostess. Upon his co-workers' discovery of his disloyalty, Botticella downloaded confidential company files from his laptop before leaving.

Apparently only seven people know the entire process for making a Thoma's English muffin, Botticella being one of them. A ruling barring Botticella from making the move to Hostess was upheld last month. Hostess has stated it was no longer holding the job for Botticella.

Selleck Waterfall Sandwich

Brian sent me a link to this blog today Selleck Waterfall Sandwich.

Here are some highlights:

Ice Cream Sandwich



Panini



Italian



Steak (no charge)



Caribbean Jerk Chicken



Meatloaf

A neat (unnecessary?) gadget...

I came across this yesterday on the Kiosk website. Kiosk is a store where the owners travel the world buying objects that they like, which they then bring back to sell at their store. They curate these items according to geography. This little gadget is from the America 3 series.

I chuckled at the description of this on their website:

There comes a time in everyone's life when things just need to go a little bit easier. I noticed the "easy factor" happens in stages and generally the changes seem to be trivial but in reality, when considered, have a great effect on ones being. Take for instance in your 20's, you decided to stop washing dishes with a skanky sponge and you splurged on a dish brush- a reaction to developing dishpan hands. Then, in the 30's you broke down and bought a tea strainer, since in your early 20's you bought lots of tea pots but then you never found the time to make and drink a whole pot of tea. I heard the 40's are for shoehorns, although I noticed Europeans tend to want one when they are in their 30's. And so all this conversation this leads us to The Shrimper, a little device made for the "easy factor", I mean why peel shrimp when The Shrimper can do it for you all in one swoop.

One of the staple dinner dishes we had growing up was freshly boiled shrimp, which we would peel and dip in a ginger, scallion, soy sauce concoction. As annoying as it is to peel shrimp, it satisfies me somehow to work for my food. But then again, I do love my gadgets.

I might swing by Kiosk tomorrow and pick it up. It's on Spring St. in Soho and on the second floor of a narrow building. One might miss it except for the neon pink arrow sign directing one to the store.


Kiosk
95 Spring St., 2/F
NY, NY 10012
kioskkiosk.com
Open Mon-Sat 11am - 7pm

Vegan Vegetable Bouillon

image courtesy of amazon.com

I first came across Rapunzel Vegan Vegetable Bouillon with Sea Salt & Herbs cubes at the Met in my neighborhood a few years back. Ever since they stopped carrying them, I've been trying other bouillon cubes, but none have matched up to its flavor (my mac & cheese hasn't been the same!). Now, before you go lecturing me about the appalling nature of using bouillon cubes instead of making fresh vegetable stock and freezing it for later use (yes, I'm thinking about what Gordon Ramsey would say), I have to say it does make a tasty broth.

So, to my delight, I came across them in the broth aisle when I went to Whole Foods last night to pick up some ingredients for dinner. My Moroccan couscous dish thanks Rapunzel for its deliciousness!

There are two other varieties that Rapunzel makes, which I haven't tried yet: regular with sea salt and no salt added.

Ingredients for these cubes: sea salt, organic non-hydrogenated palm oil, yeast extract, organic basil, organic parsley, organic garlic, organic tumeric, organic lovage, organic celery, organic dill. One packet of 8 cubes makes 1 gallon of broth (each cube makes 2 cups). At Whole Foods for $2.99.

Dino

image courtesy of Grub Street

I know it's been been absolutely ages since my last post. I still have many posts that I want to write, but I thought that I would start with this one first.

Dino recently opened in Fort Greene and I had the pleasure of going there this past weekend. There aren't that many Italian restaurants in Brooklyn that I love going to, aside from Locanda Vini e Olii (in Clinton Hill) and al di là (in Park Slope), and having lived in Rome, I've been a little spoiled.

Dino reminds me of this restaurant in Rome, Cacio e Pepe, where I had the pasta dish of the same name (essentially spaghetti with pecorino romano cheese and black pepper). Simple, delicious comfort food.

And that is what Dino does best.

We started off with the an avocado crositino appetizer ($4 off the Specials menu), fresh and spicy. The bread for the table was accompanied by an olive paste and oil dip, which was also very good. I had the oriechiette with pistachio arugula pesto ($12), which came with small potatoes, fresh green beans, and topped with diced red peppers. It was very tasty, but the hit of the meal was the spinach gnocchi with tomato sauce and roasted garlic cream ($14). It had this simple yet complex-tasting red sauce that was similar to a vodka sauce (due to the cream?). This complemented the homemade melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi perfectly (I couldn't believe that gnocchi could be this soft!) For dessert, we had the hazelnut panna cotta drizzled with a chocolate sauce, served with a side of fresh berries. The panna cotta was delightful (the last time I had panna cotta it was too cold and hard, but this was the consistency of silken tofu).

I didn't sample a cocktail, which according to the Grub Street review, was created by a consultant from the Pegu Club, but my iced tea was refreshing and didn't need any sugar.

All entrees including the pasta and meat dishes range from $12 to $18, which is extremely reasonable given the quality of the food and its location on Dekalb Ave., prime restaurant real estate in Fort Greene!

I can't wait to go back to try the spaghetti with fresh lemon and parmigiana reggiano ($12). Dino will be going on my list of go-to restaurants in the neighborhood.


Dino
222 Dekalb Ave. near Clermont Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205
718-222-1999
dinorestaurantny.com (this is the website listed on their business card, but doesn't seem to be up and running yet)

Food photography

Saw this over at A Cup of Jo last week and had to repost. I love these food photographs by Oliver Schwarzwald of breakfasts from around the world. So innovative!

Full English Breakfast


American Breakfast


Swedish Breakfast


Russian Breakfast


French Breakfast

Red velvet cake