Little Lunchbox

Combining two of my favorite things...

2011-12-13T22:40:00.001-05:00

Food and gift wrapping!

(via A Cup of Jo)

All-Pie Thanksgiving: I'm in heaven

2011-11-21T22:31:00.003-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Jade sent me this article over at Serious Eats about the All-Pie Thanksgiving feast they had. On the menu:

Turkey and Cranberry Pie » like a regular turkey pot pie but with a layer of cranberries at the bottom

Green Bean Casserole Pie » like the infamous green bean casserole, with the fried shallots worked into the crust

Mashed Potato and Gravy Pie » mounds of mashed potatoes with little pools of gravy baked with a crust on top - carb heaven

Stuffing Pie » stuffing with sausage

and they had their favorite sweet pies shipped from all over the country: Cherry Crumble from Grand Traverse Pie Co. in Michigan, Triple Coconut Pie from Tom Douglas in Seattle, Apple-Rhubarb Pie from Coffee Cup Cafe in Sully, Iowa, and a Pear-Apple with Pecan Streusel from Hoosier Mama (Chicago).

I didn't know that Ed Levine, the Serious Eats founder, was such a pie fanatic. It makes me like the website that much more. I am tempted to order these pies that he thinks are the best in the country, and to make that turkey pie.

YUM!

A Brief History of Food Blogs

2011-05-15T16:58:00.003-04:00

There's an interesting small timeline over at Saveur on the history of food blogs. (I tried to post this the other night but Blogger, ironically, was unavailable).

What are the food blogs that you read? Ever since scouring the comments section on A Cup of Jo post, I've been reading The Wednesday Chef, 101 Cookbooks, Kitchenist, Orangette and Lottie and Doof. Before I had only been reading Smitten Kitchen and occasionally Chocolate and Zucchini. All of these blogs have such beautiful pictures. The Wednesday Chef inspired me to make bagels a few weeks back!

If you want breakfast in bed...

2011-04-13T10:45:00.001-04:00

A poster I saw over at Keep Calm Gallery. Made me laugh.

Kings County Jerky Co.

2011-04-13T00:08:00.006-04:00

image courtesy of Kings County Jerky Co.

I picked up a pack of Kings County Jerky Co. Classic jerky this weekend at Brooklyn Flea. It is really good jerky. You can really taste the difference that grass-fed beef and freshly ground spices make!

I've been eating jerky for as long as I can remember. I have these memories of my parents bringing back jerky (in both strips and crumbly bits form) from their New York day trips because they were of better quality than Boston's. (No, my parents did not travel four hours just for jerky. I'm sure they stuck around for dim sum as well).

And lately, I've been enjoying South African jerky, biltong, that my South African friend's friend is smoking in his hand-built smoke house outside of LA and shipping over to us. I bought this Classic pack for my South African friend, who said today, "This is the best American jerky I've had." This is a huge compliment coming from someone who's serious about meat.

You can buy Kings County jerky at the Brooklyn Flea on Saturdays, at the New Amsterdam market on Sundays, and online. The other flavors include Korean BBQ, Orange Ginger, and the vegan Portobello (not so sure about his one...).

Popcorn Popping

2011-04-10T12:03:00.001-04:00

(via Paul Octavious)

Gina's Half Birthday: Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

2011-04-09T16:36:00.007-04:00

Yes, it does sound silly. Half Birthday celebration? It's just that neither Gina and I can wait a whole year for each other's baked goods so we celebrate half way in between as well. Sadly though, I missed Gina's salted caramel apple pie since I was stuck late at work, but she did get to enjoy my creation: peanut butter banana cream pie.

When I asked her what she wanted, she said something with peanut butter and bananas (typical), so I went to Epicurious and found this recipe, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, the guys who run Baked (which I still have yet to go to). I like going to Epicurious for recipes because they get rated and I can read others' comments to see if I need to adjust anything to it.

A lot of the comments seemed to say that the crust was too thick or they had to increase the amount of filling. I didn't find this at all when I made it. In fact, I pretty much followed the recipe to a T (except adding some orange zest and used vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean), and it came out perfectly.

The peanut butter whipped topping is divine. I'm not a huge peanut butter fan, but it wasn't too peanut-buttery at all. It was light and fluffy and perfect. I would use this recipe if I had to make a peanut butter frosting for a cake. I also bought Whole Foods' 365 organic vanilla wafer cookies

Bravo to the Baked Boys! The recipe if below (with my modifications).

Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

Vanilla wafer crust:

6 ounces vanilla wafer cookies
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons sugar

Vanilla pudding filling:

1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
2 large egg yolks
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 firm but ripe bananas, peeled, divided
3 tablespoons orange juice, divided
zest of half an orange

Peanut butter layer:

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use old-fashioned or freshly ground)
2/3 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
Purchased peanut brittle, coarsely chopped (optional)
For vanilla wafer crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients in processor; blend until mixture resembles moist crumbs, about 1 minute. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish and press mixture onto bottom and up sides (not rim) of dish. Bake crust until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven; press crust with back of spoon if puffed. Cool crust completely.
For vanilla pudding filling:
Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in heavy medium saucepan until no lumps remain. Gradually whisk in cream, then milk. Add yolks and scrape in seeds from vanilla bean (or add 1 tsp of vanilla extract); whisk to blend. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until pudding thickens and boils, about 5 minutes. Add butter and stir until melted. Spread warm pudding in cooled crust. Chill until filling is cool, about 1 hour.
Thinly slice 3 bananas on diagonal. Combine banana slices and 2 tablespoons orange juice and the zest of half an oragne in medium bowl; toss to coat. Transfer banana slices to paper towels and pat dry. Arrange enough banana slices in single layer over vanilla custard filling to cover completely.
For peanut butter layer:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar in medium bowl until smooth. Beat in vanilla, then peanut butter. Beat cream in another medium bowl until firm peaks form. Fold large spoonful of whipped cream into peanut mixture to loosen, then fold in remaining cream in 2 additions. Spread peanut butter layer evenly over bananas. Chill at least 3 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Keep chilled.

Thinly slice remaining banana on diagonal. Toss with remaining 1 tablespoon orange juice, then pat dry with paper towels. Arrange banana slices around top edge of pie. Sprinkle peanut brittle over bananas, if desired, and serve.

Dim Sum Treat

2011-04-06T22:30:00.002-04:00

I had this at Dim Sum when I was back in Boston. A never seen before treat! Tasted like light yellow cake. Delicious.

New Favorite Snack

2011-03-15T00:02:00.004-04:00

I first came across these when I went to Madison Square Garden to see the Agassi vs. Sampras match a few weeks back. Of course I had to get a hotdog (it being one of my favorite foods), but couldn't decide what side snack to get that wasn't also unhealthy until I saw Pretzel Crisps on the menu board. Pretzels are healthy-ish, right?

The thing is, I've always wanted to like pretzels as a chip-like snack, but the allure of Lays sour cream and onion potato chips or Cheetos or Doritos always won. Pretzels. whether in its normal shape or stick form, always tasted a bit mealy to me, like there was too much pretzel matter in the pretzel. I tended to like really thin pretzels since they had more of a crunch to them, but then they were so thin that they seemed insubstantial.

This is where the Pretzel Crisp comes in, a cross between a pretzel and a cracker. I ended up buying the Classic kind, and was instantly amazed at my find. Really crisp, nice light crunch and ample in its surface area. How perfect. I immediately shared them with my friends, who also approved.

I didn't think much about them until I saw them at my local Duane Reade this past week, and thought, this must be a sign. So I bought the Supreme kind (flavored with garlic, onion, and poppy, caraway and sesame seeds), whose spices don't overwhelm the pretzel at all, but complement it quite nicely.

I have found my new favorite snack, and it's not terrible for me!

It takes winners to make winners

2011-03-03T14:12:00.001-05:00

Doughnuts!

2011-02-24T01:02:00.019-05:00

An article in the NY Times and slideshow of doughnuts made me remember that I had gone to Dough, the fairly new doughnut shop that opened down the street from me, back in December. Dough is the new venture by Choice Market (the cafe/bakery also by my house). When we visited we saw cooks preparing food and baked goods for the other Choice locations in the large kitchen area; it almost seems like Choice rented the location for more kitchen space and then decided to make a doughnut shop of it as well. The front part of the shop has only a few stools and a bar counter for seating.

Here are some pictures of the doughnuts that we ate:

Cafe au Lait

Dulce de Leche with pumpkin seeds

Hibiscus

Dough makes yeast doughnuts, all of which have the same doughnut base, but the glazes are different and change on a daily basis (I went back for the Dulce de Leche with pumpkin seeds and they were replaced with almonds the second time I went; also, the New York Times article mentioned an Earl Grey doughnut, one I haven't seen yet).

If you look closely at the top picture of the case of doughnuts, there are also smaller filled doughnuts on the bottom, which I'm excited to try but haven't yet. The doughnuts that we ate were soft and fluffy, but had a nice bite to it, and extremely fresh. The Cafe au Lait has a hint of vanilla; the Dulce de Leche one was simply divine (I preferred the pumpkin seeds, which had a better crunch to softness ratio than the almonds which I tried later); the Hibiscus was promising-looking (look at that color!), but the chewiness of the dried petals and the oversweetness made it my least favorite.

I really enjoyed the doughnuts at Dough (even better that it is close to my house!). I would like them to try putting fillings into their large round doughnuts or somehow incorporate the glaze more so that each doughnut doesn't seem like the same base with a glaze. I keep thinking of Doughnut Plant's doughnuts, which have more complex flavors than Dough's, but I'm sure, based on Choice's previous baked goods, that it will get there.

Dough

305 Franklin Avenue @ Lafayette Avenue

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

(347) 533-7544

Bagel Romance

2010-12-12T16:16:00.000-05:00

via Oh Joy

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

2010-11-02T22:16:00.005-04:00

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

2010-10-17T12:23:00.004-04:00

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?

2010-10-14T09:37:00.005-04:00

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

2010-08-30T01:08:00.005-04:00

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

2010-08-08T11:30:00.002-04:00

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

2010-07-23T18:15:00.006-04:00

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...

2010-07-21T23:32:00.005-04:00

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

2010-07-20T22:43:00.004-04:00

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

2010-07-13T22:51:00.008-04:00

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

2010-03-09T13:17:00.005-05:00

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

2010-02-20T11:53:00.003-05:00

Thank you Nina for my Beurre Dish

2009-12-30T01:12:00.003-05:00

image courtesy of anthropolgie.com

Check out this Beurre Dish from Anthropologie that Nina got me for Christmas. It's a beautiful balance of industrial chic and retro French. The top is much bigger than a regular butter dish, but I figure I can fit many sticks of butter in it... I love it! Thank you Nina!

These look interesting...

2009-12-09T09:44:00.003-05:00

From the Komforte Chockolates website:

"We saw that the chocolate industry was driving upscale and more sophisticated with every season. What was of more interest to us was doing chocolate that had fun, interesting ingredients with a "comfort" feel to them that a kid, a teenager and an adult could all understand and enjoy."

I can't wait to try these! Especially the ramen one...

via Design*Sponge

All I want for Christmas...

2009-12-01T10:25:00.002-05:00

Cut Brooklyn Prospect Santoku Knife

Andalusia Yellow Fruit Stand from LAMA

Copenhagen Carafe (medium) by Roost from Velocity Art and Design

Glass Butter Dish from Brook Farm General Store

Variety of OXO TOP contaniers

ATECO Wood 7.75" Offset Decorating Spatula
Accusharp Knife Sharpener
OXO Good Grips Locking Tongs

all from Broadway Panhandler

Grandma's Dumplings

2009-11-30T19:54:00.008-05:00

Over the holiday weekend, my grandma made me some dumplings (some might be an understatement as I think she made around 200 of them). I kept asking her what she uses to marinate the filling (apparently just soy sauce, sugar and salt). Perhaps their simplicity is what makes them so tasty. The thing about restaurant dumplings is that they can be overwhelmingly meaty. My grandma's dumplings have pork, chives, mushrooms, wood ear, nappa cabbage, and dried shrimp. One of these days, I am going to make these dumplings for her.

What a cutie!

Hot Doug's

2009-11-19T00:54:00.009-05:00

t-shirt from Hot Doug's

image courtesy of www.georgehernandez.com

Indeed.

While visiting Tara in Chicago this past weekend, I had the pleasure of going to Hot Doug's. You see I've been a mission to find the best hot dog place EVER. I haven't been to Bark Hot Dogs over in Park Slope, but I have sampled Super Hotdog and I was mightily disappointed with the small dog and the skimpy toppings (even though we got delivery, I thought it could have been better).

Hot Doug's lived up to my expectations. I had traveled 45 minutes on the El, walked 20 minutes (even under a sketchy overpass!) to get there. When I arrived, there was a line out the door. This was at 2pm on a Monday. Plus, Hot Doug's is located on a corner between a somewhat-suburban street and an industrial park. Weird location, but people travel to this place. I heard the girl behind me saying to someone else in line that she and her boyfriend took a cab, and the cabbie got lost taking them there.

It was a difficult decision. I wanted to try The Dog, which is just the regular hot dog with all the trimmings, but then I started looking at all of the daily specials. I knew that my stomach couldn't handle both, so I decided to go with the The Hot Doug's B.L.T.: Bacon Sausage with Avocado Mayonnaise, Cherry Tomatoes and Iceberg Lettuce with a side of french fries.

Um, seriously, bacon sausage - the best of both meats! Plus, I love a good BLT.

As I sat on a stool by the counter waiting for my food, I looked around. Hot Doug's had an incredibly warm, homey feeling about it. Everyone was enjoying the food. The staff were happy, and everything seemed to run smoothly. I loved it there. No pretentiousness even though there were some really gourmet dogs (e.g. Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris)

When my food arrived, on a plastic red tray, I looked at my dog and thought, this doesn't look like much (maybe it was the iceberg lettuce? It never looks pretty). Then I bit into it, and I was instantly convinced. The one thing I find when cooking sausage is that the casing can get a bit tough; Hot Doug's sausage was perfect and easy to bite into. I could taste the bacon flavor, but it didn't overwhelm the sausage taste. It tasted just like a B.L.T., but in sausage form. YUM.

As I left Hot Doug's with my euphoric meat high (Can one get a meat high from just one sausage? Yes, yes one can), I thought about what other hot dogs or sausages I would sample when I came back. I would have to come back on a Friday or Saturday for their french fries fried in rendered duck fat (um, yum). I walked all the way back to the train with a huge grin on my face.

I long for a place like this in New York.

Hot Doug's
3324 North California
Chicago, IL 60618
Phone: (773) 279-9550
Open: Monday-Saturday 10am - 4pm
Closed: Sundays and Holidays

The grits at No. 7

2009-11-03T22:27:00.003-05:00

This weekend I had brunch at No. 7 (I had dinner there once before, but not brunch), and I had the most amazing grits of my life, which I am still thinking about right now.

It came served, unassuming, in a small white bowl. The description on the menu was "Grits with Shredded Pork, Napa Cabbage and Swiss." One bite, and I felt like Anton Ego in Ratatouille: instantly transported to a time in my childhood. Where did I have this taste before? It tasted like a dish my grandma had cooked, but my grandmother has never made grits. Why did it then taste so familiar?

Grits I have had in the past have tasted like a vehicle for butter and cheese, but this was different. Was it made with meat broth? Is that what gave it the rich taste? It was so hearty, so warm, like sitting in front of a roaring fire at home during a blizzard.

The side of grits blew away the main that I had ordered (corned beef hash with fried eggs). After the last bite, I still hadn't pinpointed what it was that made the dish so special. It looked simple, yet had such complex flavors.

These ads are hilarious

2009-09-18T18:08:00.002-04:00

Just saw these over at Eat Me Daily. I laughed out loud. The onions look stupidly happy, while the carrots seem out of it (except the ones doing the killing - they look just plain maniacal).

P.S. Was in Greece, but now I'm back. Planning posts about Food, Inc. and seasoning my new cast iron pot (ca. 1928), which I got at a flea market. It's so hard to find lard!

Liberté yogurt

2009-07-25T14:12:00.004-04:00

image courtesy of Serious Eats

Naomi first introduced me to Liberté yogurts a few months back. I was never much of a yogurt fan growing up and had only recently come to like Greek yogurt (for its thickness). I was skeptical of this yogurt from Quebec (do Canadians really know how to make yogurt?), but was blown away by its rich, creamy taste.

I've stocked up on these yogurts and been having them for breakfast everyday. You can say that I've become a wee obsessed. So far I've only had the Méditerranée kind (wild blackberry, lemon, and right now digging into peach and passion fruit - YUM!). I haven't had the low-fat or the six grains varieties, yet, partially because I love the Méditerranée kind, and I don't want the other kinds to taint my opinion of Liberté.

The only downside? They are a bit fattier than most yogurts (okay, they are really fatty), but one 6 oz. cup fills you right up and you'll be set until lunchtime.

Thank you Canada!

Petsi Pies

2009-07-22T23:05:00.008-04:00

Sorry that it's been so incredibly long since the last post. Work has been so busy...

Lately I've been craving pie like nobody's business. I would make it myself...if I could get over my fear of making pastry dough. I haven't been the the Little Pie Company yet, but I haven't found my pie place in New York. Back in Boston, I used to frequent The Other Side Cafe (when they used to have pies - one of the manager's mother used to make them, but that manager has since left). Sometimes, late at night, I went to South Street Diner and had apple pie a la mode. Apple pie and strawberry rhubarb pie are my favorites.

Last Fall, I had the opportunity to go to Petsi Pies in Somerville, MA with my good friend, David. This is exactly the type of place that I wish existed in New York. A small shop that has freshly baked pies. They have pies in three different sizes: 6" that serves 1-2, 8" that serves 2-4, and 10" that serves 6-8. They also have savory pies and other baked goods, but we didn't try those. We opted to get a whole blueberry pie (they didn't have the small size, so we had to get the medium). You can also get slices, as well, if they have a large pie that has been cut already. We got slices of the apple crumb and sweet potato.

There's really nothing more satisfying than a warm slice of pie on a crisp Fall day. I was so giddy when I was in Petsi Pies. David and I sat in the small room off to the right, trying not to devour the pies before I could take pictures of them. I liked how you could see the kitchen from the ordering counter and how the whole place felt very homey, like the employees called all of the regulars by their first names.

The pies were heavenly - the crust flaky and soft, yet still retaining a crunch, and the filling flavorful and not too sweet. I read once somewhere that the secret to a good, flaky crust is using lard. If anyone has a good crust recipe, please post it in the comments section.

I'm headed back to Boston in August for David's wedding, and I can't wait to go back to Petsi Pies. When I get married, I think I'll have wedding pies instead of a cake...

Gina's Fancy S'mores

2009-05-13T00:04:00.011-04:00

I promised Gina to do justice to her creation this time in picture posting, especially after Baked Alaska Gate. I also shot a video (which is really just Gina torching the marshmallow and me zooming in and out of the ingredients, but you do get to see Gizmo, Gina's adorable Shitzu-Lhasa Aphsa mix).

Gina got the idea of making these sugar-coated marshmallow s'mores after making s'mores with some peeps leftover from Easter. Here, with regular marshmallows, she has dampened them slightly with water and rolled them in granulated sugar.

Instead of graham crackers, Gina used these Swedish cookies that she got from Ikea (she says that you can find them in most supermarkets). I liked Anna's Almond Cinnamon Thins better than the traditional graham crackers. The cookies were thin and crunchy, which provided a nice textural contrast to the soft marshmallow. Also, it seemed like the cookies had some granulated sugar within it, complementing the sugar that was coating the marshmallow.

We had a second round of s'mores using fancier, dark chocolate, but all agreed that Hershey's milk chocolate was better, in taste and meltiness (make sure to get the small, regular bar; one time I tried using a Hershey's king size bar, and the chocolate bar was too thick for the s'more).

Gina used her crème brulée torch to toast the marshmallow, but I'm sure it would work over a campfire as well. Check out that flame!

So, what is the final verdict? Before I tried Gina's s'mores, I was torn. In some ways, I'm a purist when it comes to food classics, and I think when people try to fancify the recipes, they can often ruin a good thing. Other times, though, it can really open up new avenues in taste. So, while Gina's s'more doesn't quite resemble the picture below, I am glad, because I think it may even be better. Brava!

The Crème Brûlée Doughnut

2009-04-19T20:39:00.005-04:00

At one point in my childhood, my parents owned a mini food court with three fast food restaurants. They ran Osaka, a Japanese restaurant, and rented out the two other spaces. One was Dunkin' Donuts (which eventually was rented out by Honey Dew Donuts) and the other was a sandwich place.

Evidently, I consumed a lot of doughnuts. My mom would bring back boxes of them after work since they were going to get thrown out anyway. My favorite was the Boston Cream doughnut, chocolate frosted and filled with custard. I definitely ate too many as a kid, so as I grew up I steered clear of cream-filled doughnuts choosing to go with glazed or maple frosted.

My first foray back into filled doughnuts was actually Doughnut Plant's Tres Leches doughnut (a cake doughnut filled with three sweet creams, named after the Spanish Tres Leches cake). I was really skeptical of a cake doughnut, since I prefer the softer, glazed kind, but it became my favorite doughnut at Doughnut Plant.

Today, I went to get a Tres Leches doughnut, and gasped out loud, "They're sold out!" when I saw that there weren't anymore in the case. It may have been a blessing in disguise since I decided to the crème brûlée doughnut. These were blogged about in the Times back in November.

The crème brûlée doughnut at Doughnut Plant may be a contender for my new favorite doughnut. Filled with smooth vanilla custard and topped with sugar that's been blowtorched (just like crème brûlée!), it's like a textural explosion in your mouth. It's soft, creamy and crunchy! Plus, it isn't as big as the regular doughnuts there, so you won't feel guilty about getting two.

P.S. I would call first if you are planning on going first thing in the morning. I read a post on Serious Eats that they went in the early morning and they weren't ready yet.

Doughnut Plant
379 Grand St. (at Clinton)
New York, NY 10002
212-505-3700
doughnutplant.com

Everyone should buy this

2009-03-29T20:02:00.003-04:00

So I went to Broadway Panhandler today to spend the rest of my gift certificate (thanks Dirk and Marcie!). I bought a pie dish, rolling pin and whisk a couple of weeks back and was going to go get a pair of tongs, but came across the JarPop.

I have this jar of olive tapenade that I've been trying to open for months now. Months. Sometimes I would feel really strong and inspired, and I would try to open it, but it wouldn't budge, not after running it under hot water or turning it upside down and tapping it on the table. It was really disheartening, especially if I was really hungry.

While I'm not always a fan of gimmicky gadgets, I thought for $4.95, that I could give it a try (the price tag said $7.95, but it rung up as $4.95. YAY!). There was only one left, a white one, so I couldn't buy a cool semi-translucent one, but you can buy one on Amazon.

JarPop opened the stubborn olive tapenade within seconds. I'm sold.

Apparently a Danish engineer invented JarPop for his mom who had arthritis. It has won numerous design awards, including the prestigious Danish Design Council award for excellence.

Two Apologies

2009-03-28T20:16:00.003-04:00

Dear Readers,

I want to apologize for my absence. I have been extremely busy with work and had a bad cold. I will post something soon.

I also want to apologize to Gina. She seemed quite upset over my photo of her Baked Alaska compared with the photo of what a Baked Alaska should look like, even though I told her this was informational purposes only and not to spite her.

I made Gina a pie she requested for her half birthday. It was a layer of peanut butter mousse covered with marshmallow meringue and drizzled with chocolate ganache on a graham cracker crust. The meringue did not hold up well overnight so the pie looked ugly, but it tasted delicious. I think next time I would put the chocolate in the middle because I have a feeling it made the meringue deflate. Gina invented this pie in her mind so I had to combine a bunch of different recipes.

Gina threatened to take a photo of the ugly pie and start her own blog (how cruel is that?), so I'm going to post some pictures of the meringue after I took it out of the oven so people will know what it really looked like.

Is a self-scraping beaterblade attachment an extravangance?

2009-02-23T23:27:00.005-05:00

This is the question I posed to some friends last week, to which I got really quizzical looks. I'm on the Sur La Table mailing list and they sent me an email about such blade, and how can one resist? Just look at the picture below and read the description.

You voted this as one of your favorites: Continuously beat, scrape and fold ingredients in your electric mixer in about half the time with the BeaterBlade. The flexible, high-quality, food-grade plastic eliminates hand-scraping bowls, unmixed flour on bowl’s edges and batter build-up on the blades. Patented ‘wing-system’ design acts like a wiper blade that continuously scrapes sides and bottom of the bowl while mixing.

Ingredients are thoroughly included and mixed, ensuring foolproof baking preparation. BeaterBlade scrapes even the dimple at the bottom of the bowl. Perfect for cakes, cookies, frosting, bread, compound butters, meatloaf, pie fillings, mashed potatoes, gum paste and more. Fits either 5-qt., 6-qt. or 7-qt. mixers. BeaterBlade doubles as a spatula. Made in the USA.

What really got me is that it even scrapes the dimple at the bottom of the bowl. At $24.95, and in these economic times, I can't really justify spending the money on such an object. Plus, it just sounds so pompous...

...but it would have come in handy for the coconut cake I made last week. Pictures below!

Thank you Gina for the Baked Alaska

2009-02-12T22:50:00.004-05:00

Gina made me a Baked Alaska for my belated birthday yesterday (which was also coincidentally the day after my half birthday!) I think that she resisted it for a long time since it is a really hard dessert to make. Subsequently she is requesting Bananas Flambe for her half birthday next month, which isn't so hard except for the fact she wants it to be already flaming when I get off the elevator at her office. Somehow I think carrying a dish of flaming bananas down Canal St. isn't going to go over so well...

What is Baked Alaska? Baked Alaska is ice cream (Gina used strawberry) on top of sponge/pound cake encased in a cocoon of meringue which is placed in the oven long enough for the meringue to brown. The meringue is a good insulator so the ice cream and cake still stay cold.

Unfortunately Gina had to take the Baked Alaska out early since the meringue was dripping and melting (she thinks it has to do with the sugar deflating the meringue) so the picture above does not really resemble the one below, even though it was still very tasty.

On another interesting note, according to the Wikipedia entry, no one really knows where Baked Alaska came from, but one theory is that, while on a visit to Paris, a Chinese master chef introduced the concept (with a pastry casing) to French chef Balzac of the Grand Hotel. Balzac then decided to substitute the recipe with meringue and renamed it omelette surprise.

What is the lesson to be learned here? The Chinese invent everything and other people take credit for it.

Superbowl Ad: Cheetos

2009-02-01T22:53:00.004-05:00

I really like Cheetos, but after watching this slightly creepy ad tonight, I'm less keen (an aside: has anyone ever tried Baked Cheetos? Not as good. I'd definitely eat the regular ones for 30 more calories).

Eat me daily: my new favorite blog

2009-01-17T22:42:00.003-05:00

Brian introduced me to Eat me daily, a group food blog that just got started in October 2008.

Here's a blurb from their mission statement:

Eat me daily is a critical (and cynical) take on food, media, and culture, comprised of:

Commentary and criticism—not mean-spirited, but with teeth;
Aggregation of links deemed important, irreverent, redeeming, absurd, or plainly awesome;
And occasional features of the grown-up, long-format kind

It is smart, gossipy, and about food! They blog about television shows, food art, books about food, the feuds between chefs. I love it. Love it.

As a Facebook member, would you have done this?

2009-01-15T15:42:00.003-05:00

I'm not on Facebook (stop trying to force me, Nina and Tara!), but I don't know if I would have done this.

Apparently, Burger King introduced a new application called "Whopper Sacrifice," in which if you delete 10 of your friends you get a free Whopper.

Facebook has disabled the application, though, because a notification sent to deleted friends informing them that they've been replaced by a free hamburger violated Facebook policy.

233,906 people replaced their friends before "Whopper Sacrifice" was shut down.

(via swissmiss and eweek)

Lemon Cheesecake with Shortbread Cookie Crust

2009-01-01T21:34:00.005-05:00

Sorry that it has taken me so long to post these pictures. It didn't turn out so bad! There was some cracking on the top, but not noticeable (especially not in these pictures). I used more lemon juice and zest than the original recipe called for but the lemon flavor wasn't overpowering. I have made oreo cheesecake before and this cheesecake was definitely lighter and creamier (I wonder if this has to do with the water bath?)

Here's the recipe (modified from Epicurious):

For shortbread crust:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup finely ground shortbread cookies (I used Lorna Doone)

For cheesecake:

2 pounds cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup mascarpone cheese (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs (room temperature)
juice and zest of 2 lemons

Make crust:

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium high speed for 3-4 minutes. Add flour and ground shortbread to the mixture and blend for 3-4 seconds until fully incorporated. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake the crust at 350 F for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the crust to cool completely. Double wrap the bottom and sides of the pan with aluminum foil.

Make cheesecake:

(Optional: Soften cream cheese in microwave for 45-60 seconds).
Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and smooth. Add the mascarpone cheese and sugar and continue to beat on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time. Blend in the lemon zest and juice.

Butter sides of springform pan. Pour mixture into the cooled crust.

Set the cheesecake pan into a roasting pan, and add enough water to the roasting pan to reach halfway up sides of the cheesecake pan. Place in a 325 F oven for approximately one and a half hours or until the cake is set and the top is goldenbrown. Remove the cake from the roasting pan and place on a wire rack. Allow cake to cool slightly, take off aluminum foil, then place the cake in the refrigerator overnight.

Once ready to serve, carefully run a knife around the edge to loosen any bits. Unclip the clasp at the side of the pan and lift off outer ring. Use two spatulas to lift the cheesecake off the springform plate onto your serving plate.

Here are some cheesecake baking tips I found from various websites:

Mix filling until only combined. Do not over mix. This will prevent cracking on the top of the surface.

Make sure there are no lumps BEFORE you add the eggs. The eggs hold the air in the batter, so add them last, and mix as little as possible once they are in the mix.

Do not overbake the cheesecake. When perfectly done, there will still be a one to two inch wobbly spot in the middle of the cheesecake.

Happy Baking and Happy New Year!

When you've grated 19 shortbread cookies...

2008-12-10T00:28:00.002-05:00

...you realize that maybe a food processor would be a good idea after all. Or even better, the food processor attachment for my mixer.

Hopefully my finely ground cookies will turn into the perfect crust for the cheesecake I'm going to bake for my Secret Santa.

Stay tuned for pictures in a couple of days!

This may be the perfect complement

2008-12-03T22:23:00.014-05:00

My favorite and only kitchen appliance is my Viking Stand Mixer. My mother, who usually buys me brand-named purses or Nike workout clothes, gave the mixer to me for my birthday a couple of years ago, because "she noticed that I was taking an interest in baking." I found my mom's reasoning to be somewhat compromised since I could have sworn that they had a couple of mixers lying around the house to begin with (my parents have been on a buying craze for the past few years and end up buying lots of random things "in case" they need to give someone a gift so they always have a few DVD players, Swarvoski crystal swans and handheld massagers on hand).

I love the mixer because it looks so industrial and less bubble-shaped than other mixers - it is like a Jaguar in a sea of Beetles. As perfect as it is, I think I may have found the thing to make the mixer even better.

Behold! the Disc Slicer/Shredder attachment. It turns the mixer into a mini food processor, which is amazing because I wanted a food processor, but I don't have enough room for another kitchen appliance and I HATE shredding carrots and cheese by hand. The only downside is that the attachment is $110 which is like a cost of an actual food processor and three times the cost of a mini food processor.

So, it's not exactly economically practical, but if anyone's feeling generous this Christmas, I'm putting this on my list. Hey, it does come with three different blades.

This breaks my heart

2008-11-24T19:12:00.006-05:00

Gordon Ramsay has been having an affair with Sarah Symonds (who famously had an affair with Lord Jeffrey Archer back in 2001 and wrote a book called Having An Affair? A Handbook For The Other Woman) for the past seven years. Above are a picture of Gordon leaving the Marriott Hotel off London's Grosvenor's Square after their latest "meeting" this past Thursday, and a picture of the mistress herself.

This breaks my heart. I can't believe I shook hands with Gordon Ramsay. Does no one believe in the institution of marriage anymore?

The sad thing is that Gordon Ramsay has always been thought of a family man and extremely devoted to his wife, Tana, of 12 years.

Here are some excerpts from the article I read:

In 2006 Ramsay was voted Celebrity Father Of The Year and in 2007 the Ramsays were named Celebrity Family Of The Year.

He and Symonds first met in 2001 at London’s Chinawhite nightclub, just a few months after she had revealed her affair with top Tory and author Jeffrey Archer.
The News of the World was told: “Ramsay and Sarah exchanged mobile phone numbers and became lovers just a few weeks later. So much for him being true to his wife.”

In October 2007, Symonds cemented her reputation as a “professional mistress” by writing her book: Having An Affair? A Handbook For The Other Woman. It made such an impact that she was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey show where she was interviewed as a role model for mistresses. In the first edition of the book Symonds, who moved from LA to Newport in her native Wales in February this year, refers to a pal who had an affair with a chef with many similarities to Ramsay.
She wrote: “A friend of mine was having an affair with a world- famous TV chef, well-known on both sides of the Atlantic for both his bad language and his good food.

In June, he told another newspaper: “Tana and I have a great marriage even though we spend very little time together. The time we have together is quality rather than quantity.”
Again, in an article last year, Ramsay said: “Sunday night is mine and Tana’s precious night. We’ll start with a gin and tonic and put a bottle of Ruinart champagne to chill in the ice machine. For dessert we just take the champagne upstairs to bed.” And in one lengthy interview he gave four years into his affair with Symonds, he said: “On a Friday night, Tana will ask me to keep my chef’s jacket on when we make love.

Below is a picture of Gordon and his wife in happier times.

Why, Gordon, why?!?

Foodie Fight

2008-11-24T10:11:00.000-05:00

image courtesy of kitchen.apartmenttherapy.com

I was flipping through my Sur La Table catalogue and saw the Foodie Fight board game. Has anyone heard of or played this game? Foodie Fight came out last September and was created by Joyce Lock who is the owner of Stir, a culinary consulting firm. The trivia based game has questions ranging from "culinary science and celebrity chefs to food history and exotic cuisine."

Based on reviews from several sites, it seems like a good game. I might have to geek out and give it a try. This could be another good Christmas gift (hint hint).

Banana Bread

2008-11-23T21:41:00.007-05:00

It is so cold! I made some banana bread last weekend for some friends and my landlord. I wish I had some now...I couldn't taste a whole slice myself, but based on some crumb bits, I say it was pretty good.

The recipe is modified from an Epicurious one (easily halved if you just want to make one loaf). Does anyone really like nuts in their banana bread? I don't - just like I don't like nuts or raisins in my carrot cake. I kind of like the purity of the bread itself. Also, I think that the bread would have been even better if the bananas were super ripe (they were already yellow without spots and I let them sit for four days and got lots of spots, but someone else suggested letting the bananas ripen for ten days!)

Banana bread is a "quick bread," a type of bread that uses baking powder or baking soda instead of yeast; because of this there is less gluten development and thus cracks form on the top.

I didn't have any metal loaf pans so I bought some aluminum ones from the supermarket and lined it with parchment which I trimmed afterward. I had some difficulty with getting the center of the banana bread to set - this may have done with them being in aluminum pans, although having them in the aluminum made it easier to give as gifts. I don't bake bread that often so I don't know if I'll buy a metal loaf pan, but Christmas is coming up...(hint hint)

Banana Bread
2 loaves

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 cups coarsely mashed very ripe bananas (6 large)
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 (9-by-5-by 3-inch) metal loaf pans, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.

Beat together eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add oil and apple sauce in small batches, mixing, then mix in bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in flour mixture by hand gently but thoroughly just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Be careful not to overmix as this will cause the gluten in the flour to develop and the bread will be tough.

Divide batter between loaf pans, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Depending on your oven, you may want to start checking the bread from 45 minutes onward so that it does not overcook.

Cool loaves in pans on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn loaves right side up and cool completely.

Why is this so hard to find?

2008-11-19T23:05:00.003-05:00

I've been looking for a 9"x9" ceramic square baker for what seems like ages...I would like to bake an apple crisp in one for Thanksgiving, but might have to make do with one of my round cake pans. Since my resolve not to buy anything that I don't absolutely love, I don't want to buy just any square baker.

Le Creuset has a Square Baker Set which comes with a 5"x5" pan as well (what would bake in something so small?). Plus, it's not deep enough.

Emile Henry has one, but only in a purple glaze, and also not deep enough.

The Revol Belle Cuisine square bakers are on sale at Sur La Table, and even though I have a gift certificate, they still seem a bit expensive. And, I kind of wanted a colored one.

I had high hopes going to Macy's today to check out their Fiestaware bakers, the Portmeirion Sophie Conran Bakeware, and possibly the Corningware.

Macy's during a One Day Sale = crowded, pushy and wrong. I couldn't find anything that I was looking for and why did people keep bumping into me? There was this woman walking around wheeling a gigantic suitcase making everyone get out of her way. What was her problem? I finally saw her in line with some small item from the Martha Stewart Collection. Did she really need to come to this sale? And with a suitcase?

There was a display of Le Creuset stuff with the Square Baker Set and also the covered Square Baker (too expensive for me). The All-Clad square baker, though nice, was only 8"x8", and metal. Corningware didn't have any square bakers and everything came in a 6 or 10 or 15 piece set. I just want one pan! I was excited to finally see their SimplyLite collection (especially after seeing their commercial - hey! advertising does work), but if my research into exploding pyrex has taught me anything, I am wary of the glass used to make the SimplyLite bakeware.

If any of you dear readers have a wonderful ceramic square baker, please leave a comment. Otherwise, I'll still keep hunting.

Kitchen Confidential

2008-11-16T22:06:00.004-05:00

I just finished watching the entire first (and only) season of Kitchen Confidential on Hulu.com (where you can watch a lot of television shows and movies for free...with limited commercial interruption!). The show is based on Anthony Bourdain's best-selling autobiography and follows the fall and comeback of a young talented chef named Jack Bourdain (Bradley Cooper).

I can't believe that Fox canceled this show back in 2005 (and after airing just five episodes!). Then I remember this is the same network that canceled Arrested Development. Now they have such great shows such as Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?, Don't Forget the Lyrics! and Hole in the Wall (Can you sense my sarcasm here?...Though I would have to give them credit for So You Think You Can Dance and Gordon's shows - yes, we're on a first name basis now).

After watching the last episode, I felt sad that it was the end of my journey with these characters. It wasn't as bad as watching the last episode of My So-Called Life, but still, Kitchen Confidential was funny and engaging. I kept wondering, has a show ever been resurrected after having been canceled? Probably not.

Maybe it's my obsession with restaurants and cooking in general that makes me like it so much. Go watch it on Hulu and tell me what you think. Episodes are only 20 minutes long, but I guarantee you'll want to watch another one right away.

Can you survive on $1 a day for food?

2008-11-05T17:19:00.003-05:00

image courtesy of One Dollar Diet Project

Just read in the NY Times about a couple who decided to do a month long experiment to see if they could survive on just a dollar a day for food. What they found (unsurprisingly) is that that the cheaper foods tend to be junk foods devoid of nutritionally value.

You can read about their experience on their blog, One Dollar Diet Project.

Congratulations! (& Food Fact)

2008-11-05T10:38:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Obama! And now on to the food fact...

image courtesy of yellowpages.com

According to an interview in January 2008, Obama said that his favorite food was from Italian Fiesta Pizzeria in Hyde Park, Chicago. I will definitely visit this carry-out place next time I visit Tara (I can't believe I missed out a few weeks ago!)

If you haven't already, please vote!

2008-11-04T16:06:00.003-05:00

image courtesy of http://obeygiant.com

I know this isn't food-related, but please remember to vote!

Japanese Slang for...

2008-10-06T19:17:00.006-04:00

image courtesy of NY Times

I just read an interesting article on the New York Times about cooking one pot meals with the rice cooker.

I came across this part in the article and laughed out loud (the part in bold):

John Youngsun Park, a designer of video games in the San Francisco Bay Area, blasts the heat on his Sanyo to make noo roong ji, the toasted crust of rice that forms at the bottom of the traditional Korean stone rice pot. “You just want to see what it can do,” Mr. Park said. In fact, it can poach, steam and simmer, as well as turn out a crisp noo roong ji.
“People love that toasted-rice taste,” he said. “It’s even a flavor of ice cream in Seoul.” (Japanese cooks, however, consider toasted rice overcooked and highly undesirable. The unwanted crust left stuck to the bottom of the rice cooker is called okoge — the same word used as slang for a single woman who spends a lot of time with gay men.)

What?

While I was pondering how crusty rice equates to what Americans would refer to as a "fag hag," I suddenly had a vision of crusty semen at the bottom of the rice cooker. Gross.

I don't think I can eat bi bim bop ever again.

Spartan Souvlaki

2008-09-16T13:02:00.005-04:00

image courtesy of The Porkchop Express

A few weeks ago, some friends and I trekked all the way to Dyker Heights, Brooklyn for dinner. Tom had read about Spartan Souvlaki on the blog, The Porkchop Express. Apparently every Saturday they roast two whole pigs! The last time I had roast pig was at someone's house in Boston and they dug a pit in the backyard and cooked the pig in it for hours (it sounds disgusting, but it was good). We were all very excited.

Sarah and I got there a little after Tom and Gina. They had already ordered some appetizers, a spinach pie, a cheese pie, and some sausage. Since everything there is made to order, it takes awhile to come out, but it's definitely worth the wait. The pies were especially good, not too crispy, and cooked to perfection. It was akin eating comfort. We were trying to figure out what was in the cheese one because it tasted both sweet and salty - the waitress told us it was a combination of feta cheese and ricotta.

Just as we were gearing up to order a plate of roast pig, the waitress told us that they had run out and that ideally, we should get there between 5 and 7pm (who eats at 5pm?) next time. But that was the whole point in coming! For the pig!

As we were looking at the menu to decide what else to order, George, the owner, came over with a small plate of roast pig. He said it wasn't much, but since we made the journey for it, he thought we should at least taste some.

How nice is that? The roast pig was delicious, moist, juice, rich and not overly flavored so that you can taste the pork (according to The Porkchop Express the only seasoning is some oregano-seasoned salt). Apparently, if we had received a proper plate it would have included pork from all parts of the pig.

The rest of the dinner (a gigantic tomato salad, grilled octopus, lamb and chicken kebabs) was also amazing. It all felt a bit surreal, sitting outside surrounded by ivy eating great food and in a part of Brooklyn I would never venture to.

When we got the bill, it seemed a bit low for all the food we had ordered. Then we realized that the waitress hadn't charge us for the appetizers. Since everyone at the restaurant was so nice (and we got a free plate of pork), we told her. She was very grateful.

We certainly didn't want karma to kick us in the butt later on, especially if we wanted to (and are definitely going to) go back to Spartan Souvlaki. It was a trek, but it was worth it.

Spartan Souvlaki
6820 8th Avenue
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
(718) 748-5838
Monday-Saturday: 11:30am-10pm

Cash only

Tiffin Lunchbox

2008-09-13T10:00:00.003-04:00

While browsing on The Curiosity Shoppe the other day, I saw a cute stainless steel lunchbox made by To-Go Ware. Called a tiffin lunchbox, it is a lunch carrying system from India where you can put different foodstuffs in each compartment and the lid doubles as a plate. According to Wikipedia, in South India the the term tiffin is generally used to mean an in-between-meals snack. I have seen other lunchboxes like this, but being a great fan of plastic Tupperware, I'm not so sure I can make the change.

Then, today while flipping through New York Magazine I saw a Design Within Reach ad for the Tiffin Lunch Box Set, three different lunch boxes of different sizes. At a whopping $85 for the lot (who needs three? maybe a family?), I began to wonder what these would cost in India. Heck, these may be even made in India. How ironic would that be?

With this price tag in mind I went back to To-Go Ware's website to check out the price of their tiffin lunchbox (an aside: is it lunchbox or lunch box? According to Dictionary.com, if you type in lunch box, it says to see lunchbox), and saw that they have updated their product and that it begins shipping on 9/17/08. It also costs $18.50 and comes with a sidekick tiffin for dressings or sauces.

Let's compare the tiffins.

The old tiffin from To-Go Ware is cute, maybe a bit too cute and roundish. I think I would feel like a Japanese school girl carrying it around. Plus, since it seems to taper up to the top, I'm not so sure how much food it can hold.

Base Pot - bottom diameter : 6.5", top diameter : 2.4", Height : 2.4"
Upper Pot - bottom diameter : 5.5", top diameter : 5.1", Height : 2.2"
Plate - 5.9" diameter
Total Height : 7.3"

The new tiffin lunchbox from To-Go Ware seems more grown up and a little industrial from its hard edges, which I like. Plus the sidekick tiffin is super cool. It is also a bit bigger than its predecessor.

Pot dimensions: 6 1/2" D x 3 5/8" H
Assembled height: 6 1/4"
Sidekick: 3 1/2" D x 3 1/8" H

Design Within Reach's tiffin set is a nice balance of hard and soft edges. I have this love/hate relationship with good design and the huge price it carries with it, but I do like these tiffin lunchboxes. Too bad you can't just buy one. DWR didn't give specific measurements for each one, but it seems like the smallest one may be a bit smaller than To-Go Ware's.

Height: 4–7.5" Diameter 5.5–6.5"

Final verdict? Well, since we have lunch catered at work I never bring lunch, so I don't need one, but I'd probably buy To-Go Ware's one since I like it and I like supporting small businesses.

Which one, my dear readers, do you like? Or do you know of other cool lunchboxes? My first lunchbox was a pink My Little Pony one with a matching thermos.

An Unlikely Combo

2008-09-11T14:15:00.003-04:00

image courtesy of Daily Mail online

Just learned from Faded Youth Blog (my favorite site for celebrity gossip) that Gordon Ramsay and Posh are opening a restaurant together in LA!

Ramsay says, "“Yes, it is true that Victoria and I are setting up a restaurant in LA together. I’m really excited. She’s really keen to focus on a traditional English-style menu, like bangers and mash, fish and chips and such like.”

While I'm a huge fan of anything that Gordon Ramsay does, I'm not so sure about this unlikely partnership...but maybe it'll help Posh but on a bit of weight.

Ta for now!

Whole Foods Tribeca

2008-09-06T10:01:00.004-04:00

image courtesy of Whole Foods

Last night I went to Whole Foods Tribeca to get some Citrasolv (I stupidly got some oil on my brand new microfiber sofa and read that this might get it out). I called them beforehand to see if they had it and the employees there were so nice on the phone and checked for me.

I had first seen the Whole Foods Tribeca when I went to Bed Bath and Beyond a few weeks ago (they're in the same complex). From the outside it didn't seem that there were that many people inside, certainly not nearly as many as the one in Union Square. So I was delighted when my expectations came true last night- there weren't that many people there and I could walk around freely. It was amazing.

After I picked up my Citrasolv, I spent awhile walking around looking for other things to buy just because I could, but didn't pick up anything else. When I went to go check out there were long lines. It seemed like all the cashiers were really slow, especially in my line. My sense of time this week has been off though (I've been working so much and feeling zombie-like) so I'm not sure how long I actually waited in line, but it seemed like it took FOREVER and I was only buying one item. It's a new location so I will give it some slack as I'm sure the employees will pick up speed.

I definitely recommend going to this Whole Foods. I might kick myself later when other people figure that this is the Whole Foods to go to and it becomes crazy busy like the others, but I thought everyone should know.

Whole Foods Market Tribeca
270 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
212.349.6555
Store Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. seven days a week.

P.S. In case you were wondering the Citrasolv got the stain out of my couch. Yay for orange-based cleaners! Plus, it gets extra points because it's good for the environment.

P.P.S. I'm writing this post on the Bolt Bus on my way to Boston. It has free wifi and plugs for your computers! An interesting aside: When I was waiting on the subway platform this morning to get to said bus, someone on the other platform yelled in a high-pitched shreikiing aggressive voice, "Does anybody know if this train is running?" I glanced briefly to see a crazy old woman. A couple of seconds later she yelled, "What the fuck are you looking at?! I'm just asking if this train is running!" I glanced up again to see a girl on my platform mutter, "Nothing," and look away. Poor thing. The old woman began walking down the platform possibly to look for a station attendant. Then this old man on my platform began saying, "That woman is crazy," over and over again, to the point which I thought he might be a little crazy himself. Now, you know someone's really crazy when another crazy person thinks so.

CorningWare Vintage Teapot and Exploding Pyrex

2008-08-27T22:45:00.008-04:00

I have two other posts in the works, but I've just been obsessively looking at vintage CorningWare teapots on EBay and had to share. I saw my friend, Sarah's, teapot (in the "Spice of Life" pattern), fell in love with it, and thus have been searching for one of my own. The one above is in the "Cornflower" pattern. Isn't it absolutely adorable? There are a whole bunch up for auction, but most of them have only one picture and no other views of the teapot. How do they expect people to know its condition?

I'm also thinking about purchasing some CorningWare casserole dishes. But when I read that they had Pyrex lids, I became hesitant. Someone at work told me today about a cousin of theirs who is visiting and was cooking some roast potatoes in a Pyrex dish that exploded in her hands when she took it out of the oven. This sent flying glass shards and hot oil all over her. She has deep cuts and first degree burns and now has a cast on her arm! The weird thing is, my coworker, who was telling the story, had the same thing happen to him about a month back. Then we found this recent article on ConsumerAffairs.com. Seems like this has been happening for the last three years! Yikes! And I just bought a Pyrex dish....and 3 Pyrex bowls...and a Pyrex measuring cup. I loved Pyrex. Boo. Should I return them? One shouldn't be afraid of their dishes.

A Weekend of Firsts

2008-07-23T10:33:00.008-04:00

This weekend, hot as it was, was a great weekend of firsts.

On Friday afternoon, a few of us from work ventured out to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. I had never been to - or heard of - this ice cream shop (subsequently making me feel less Chinese).

I imagined a grand huge place - a cross between Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and the Imperial Palace restaurant of my youth, but it was just like any other small ice cream shop - a long skinny hallway.

It was busy when we entered. I saw a display of t-shirts and hats and a sign saying that they were the original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and had been in business for over 30 years and that there were other companies illegally using their name and logo (so they had been around for that long - boy, did I feel really ignorant. Oh yeah, they have won numerous awards, too).

I tried samples of Taro (which is a potato-like vegetable - you may have had the taro chips from Terra before) and Black Sesame (so you know, I was informed that a customer can have only two samples). I settled on a scoop of the Black Sesame. It was really creamy and subtle tasting with the sesame seeds adding that extra crunch. I tried a bit of my friend's Green Tea, and it was unlike any other green tea ice cream I had had before. This Green Tea was bright, vibrant and really tasted like green tea. I was extremely impressed.

What tickled me even more was the sign listing their ice cream flavors. Under "Regular" were flavors like Black Sesame, Taro, Green Tea, Almond Cookie, Red Bean, Durian, etc. and under "Exotic" were flavors like Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate, Coffee, Pistachio, Chocolate Chip, etc.

I'll definitely be taking my parents here when they visit.

Friday night was the first time I went to the famous Brooklyn diner, Junior's. There has been more than one occasion when a taxi driver, driving past Junior's on the way to my apartment, exclaimed in surprise, "You've never been to Junior's? They have the best cheesecake." And how long have I lived in Brooklyn? Almost three years, now. Yes, I was a little embarrassed.

More so than the Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry Cheesecake that we had for dessert (which was really good), my dinner might have surpassed it. From the Specialty Sandwich section, I ordered the Something Different.

Something Different turned out to be Something Great (and possibly artery-clogging) - slices of brisket in between potato pancakes accompanied with gravy and apple sauce. The brisket was thinly sliced, and though not the best brisket I've had (the best being in Texas), was adequate. The potato pancakes were amazing - large, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Topping all this off with gravy made for a great sandwich (how come I've never thought of this?).

Jeff invited me to a coffee cupping the next morning hosted by the New York Coffee Society, a club that was started last year whose primary purpose is to allow people to cup coffees together. It took place at Beer Table in Park Slope.

This was my first cupping (sounds dirty, doesn't it?) and I wasn't sure what to expect. When we arrived, there were two bar tables with identical setups of three sets of four small glasses with ground coffee inside them. Someone had made some scones and other breakfast goodies to snack on.

Daniel, one of the organizers of the NYCS, talked about each of the three coffees we would be cupping that day - two from Ethiopia and one from Ecuador. Then he took a survey of which people in the room had cupped before. I was glad to see that it was about a fifty-fifty split. We were to split up into two groups.

Then he explained the three phases of cupping. First we would smell the grounds of each coffee. After that, Daniel would go around and pour hot water (I forget what temperature the water has to be, but it is specific) in each of the glasses. We then would wait four minutes while it brewed. As this was happening, a crust would form at the top. Each of us would get a spoon and we would "break the crust" by pushing the grounds across the top, agitating a bit, and smell the aroma. It was best to smell through our noses and breathe out through our mouths. Since there were only four cups to each coffee, not everyone could break the crust so they were to agitate the surface and smell. Also, there was a glass of water in which to dip our spoons so we didn't cross-contaminate any of the coffees. After this, Daniel would skim the top to get rid of any grounds and we would then sample the coffees by dipping our spoons in and the slurping the coffee up (keeping in mind to dip the spoons in the clean water between slurps) . This has something to do with our sense of taste and our sense of smell being controlled by different parts of our brain at different times. If we were professional cuppers buying thousands of dollars of coffee and sampling some fifty varieties, we would spit after each taste, but we didn't have to since we were just tasting three kinds of coffee. We were also encouraged to sample each cup of coffee (even if it was the same kind of coffee) and also as it cooled since the taste changes.

I was nervous for several reasons. The cupping seemed so ritualized and it was something that had to be done a specific way. Is there a wrong way to smell the coffee (fortunately I followed a seasoned cupper and learned to shake the grounds before sticking my nose in the glass)? What if I messed up the breaking the crust and pushed the grounds to the bottom? Daniel also demonstrated how the slurp should be - loud and quick. Coming from a family of noodle and soup slurpers, could I stand up to the challenge?

Apparently not. My slurping was not loud and kind of wimpy. Thankfully it blended in with the noises of louder slurpers so I wasn't quite as embarassed.

My favorite coffee was one called SMS, named after the exporter and one of the two Ethiopian coffees. It tasted so much like fruit - hints of oranges and bananas, and was quite different from anything I had tasted before. They also had a demonstration of the Japanese style of brewing drip coffee by Koji. The shape of the cone and the paper filter is different to the American ones and there's even a special pot to pour a thin stream of water into the grounds in a circular motion. The result was a strong clear cup of coffee. I can't wait to go to the next cupping!

Finally, on my way to a movie at BAM, on Sunday, I encountered the Cupcake Parade, a celebration of the anniversary of Cake Man Raven. Oh, how many times have I tried to go to the Cake Man to get a slice of red velvet and something happened which left me cakeless.

There was a platform with musicians and performers as well as a marching band. Little teenage boys ran around with sheet boxes of free red velvet cupcakes. I was told I could take as many as I wanted, but only left with two. I tried to hide these in my backpack since BAM is strict about bringing outside food in (I once had to wolf down a slice of pizza in front of the ticket taker).

The inside of my bag ended up smeared with bits of cream cheese frosting, but boy was it worth it! Can't wait to get a slice after this little taste.

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
65 Bayard Street
NY, NY 10013
(212) 608-4170
http://www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com

Junior's Restaurant
386 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 852-5257
http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/
the website doesn't seem to be working for some reason...

New York Coffee Society
visit Daniel's Coffee Blog for up to date information
http://danielhumphries.livejournal.com/
to sign up for membership, send an email to newyorkcoffeesociety@gmail.com

Cake Man Raven
708-a Fulton St.
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 694-CAKE (2253)
http://www.cakemanraven.com/

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory photo courtesy of J. Blough's flickr page
Junior's photo courtesy of Joel's Journeys
Coffee photo courtesy of Daniel's Coffee Blog
Cake Man photo courtesy of boingboing

Supercook

2008-07-01T10:03:00.003-04:00

Have you ever met someone who could cook the most fabulous meal using just what was in the fridge and the pantry? I had an old roommate like that (one time he managed to make a wonderful eight course brunch for six of us without having to go the supermarket).

For those of us who are less creative with our ingredients, there's a great new website called Supercook where you can list the ingredients in your kitchen and it will search the web for recipes using those ingredients. Results are separated into Starters, Entrees, and Desserts. If a particular recipe needs certain ingredients that you don't have it will list them, too. You can filter the recipes based on just some ingredients in your kitchen.

Based on an initial search I've just done, I can make various cakes and mac and cheese. Hmmm...

Happy Cooking!

(via swissmiss)

Gordon Ramsay found innocent!

2008-06-19T14:59:00.003-04:00

boston.com

Just read on the NY Times (thanks for the tip, Tim!) that Gordon Ramsay went before the Australian Senate today for excessive use of profanity on his television shows. Despite Catholic protests, they decided not to censor him or any other foul-mouthed television stars.

“In the absence of an overwhelming community consensus that particular words be banned altogether, the committee does not believe it is appropriate to make any recommendations with regard to imposing additional limits,” a report stated, according to The Associated Press.

Suggestions by the committee included better programming and improved parental controls (Australia already has rules for "mature" programming, such as Gordon's shows, to be shown after 8:30pm).

If they only knew what a sweet lamb he is. I mean, look at that face!

Carrot Cake

2008-06-09T16:27:00.006-04:00

This is a picture of the carrot cake I made for Jo's birthday. It is the third carrot cake I have made for a co-worker, and I fear that I'm going to continue only making it since it is so delicious and people keep requesting it. For this one though, I decided to whip out my cake decorating tips and try them out (I've been avoiding it since I had a disastrous experience when I was younger), but it was so easy. I think I will try to decorate all of my cakes now.

The below recipe is one modified from Epicurious. I don't like nuts and raisins in my carrot cake so I don't put them in, but feel free to, if you must. The cake is really simple to make. The only thing that takes a long time for me is grating the carrots, but I'm hoping to get a food processor from my parents for my birthday and then I won't get grazed knuckles anymore. Next time I'm going to try to substitute apple sauce for all of the oil (the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups oil), but reviewers suggested the apple sauce since the cake seemed too oily otherwise. The cake is still really moist with the 1/2 cup of applesauce. I'm hoping eliminating the oil entirely won't make the cake taste too apple-y.

Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
4 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 cups finely grated peeled carrots (about 1 1/3 pound)

Frosting
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

For cake: Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper. Lightly grease parchment paper. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, vegetable oil and apple sauce in bowl until combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into sugar and oil mixture. Stir in carrots.

Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing equally. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean and cakes begin to pull away from sides of pans, about 30-45 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely.

For frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Cover and refrigerate until firm enough to spread, about 15 minutes.

Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with another cake layer. Spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Using icing spatula, spread remaining frosting in decorative swirls over sides and top of cake.

Store covered at room temperature.

Now this is a game I could get into

2008-05-19T22:30:00.005-04:00

(photo from New York Magazine)

I just read in New York Magazine about the new Wii Competitive Eating Game called "Major League Eating: The Game," now downloadable as a WiiWare title in North America. And when I searched for an image for this post, I saw that A Cup of Jo's Joanna Goddard had written the article!

A few summers ago, while working for Antiques Roadshow, we were in Houston in an extra-terrestrial themed restaurant that served burgers and fries and such. There were these huge flat screen televisions in the dining room, which would have been really annoying except that the channel was set to ESPN and the Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive Eating was showing.

It was weird to watch so many people gorging themselves on food (spaghetti, chicken wings, hard-boiled eggs), especially since we were about to eat, but we were all mesmerized. We learned about the big players like Takeru Kobayashi (a small Japanese fellow who has won the Coney Island hot dog eating contest every year from 2001-2006 until he was dethroned by Joey Chestnut in 2007), Sonya Thomas (nicknamed "The Black Widow" and only 98 pounds!), Rich LeFevre ("The Locust") and his wife Carlene LeFevre, etc.

I was hooked. These people were amazing. How could they eat so much in so little time? Also, how is it possible that Kobayashi makes $300,000 a year from doing this?

Then came Wii. The first time I played Wii, I felt like a giddy kid whipping my arm into the air to get a power serve in tennis. So imagine my happiness that Major League Eating was coming to Wii. This is going to be awesome.

Below, an excerpt from New York Magazine on how to play the game:

“Our goal was to make a game that used the Wii controller in a new way,” says Bill Swartz, whose company makes the game. The basics of play are oddly intuitive: You use the wireless Wii controller, which has a motion sensor inside, to simulate eating food for a set time period. There are “cram” foods, like hamburgers and burritos, for which you move the remote to and from your mouth; “toss” foods, like sushi and meatballs, which you “eat” by flicking your wrist upward; and “typewriter” foods, like watermelon and corn on the cob, which require you to move the remote across your mouth. And you need to do it without a “reversal of fortune”: vomiting....The game has a “jiggle” function when their virtual stomachs fill up. Players must also press a “chew” button, and you can antagonize queasy opponents with burps and jalapeño flames.

Moules frites

2008-05-17T16:45:00.007-04:00

I've been meaning to write about the first time I cooked mussels and french fries for awhile now, but I wanted to get the picture off of Tim's camera (when I finally got around to it, he had already accidentally deleted the ones with the mussels AND the french fries), so there's only a picture of the mussels above. Don't they look so lonely without the fries?

I always thought that cooking mussels was really hard, but in fact, it's pretty easy and doesn't take that much time to prepare at all. I used frozen french fries, and even then, that took the longest to cook.

After doing a bit of research on where to buy mussels, I settled on going to The Lobster Place in Chelsea market. Usually about 1 pound per person is sufficient, and the Prince Edward Island mussels there cost $3.25/pound.

The recipe asked for cultivated mussels. Cultivated mussels are collected from rocks or in production areas on posts. They are better than wild mussels because they contain less grit and sand. You can tell a cultivated mussel from a wild one by their valves (shells) - cultivated ones have two convex valves and wild ones have one convex and one concave valve.

As for the wine, the recipe called for dry white wine. After scrolling through some websites, it seemed like the best bet was to use wine that you liked drinking as well to cook with. If you don't intend to drink the wine, then Julia Child recommended using dry white vermouth - it'll keep longer and you can use it for future recipes. I settled for a Sauvignon Blanc I tasted from Trader Joe's. Other dry white wines include Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Chablis, and Riesling (though I like sweet Rieslings better). An interesting side fact: wines are dry if they have a residual sugar content well under 1%.

Below is the recipe (modified from the original Epicurious one since I thought that using regular mayonnaise for the fries was sufficient instead of making the mustard mayonnaise). Because the recipe was using such simple ingredients I wasn't sure if it would be tasty enough, but it was really flavorful. I'm also a huge fan of interactive eating and digging around and opening mussels. Just be careful not to eat the ones that haven't opened during cooking. That means they're dead. We didn't eat the ones that were even a little bit open just to be safe - risking food poisoning for a little bit of shellfish isn't worth it!

P.S. For all of those people out there who haven't eating french fries with mayonnaise, it's really the way to go. I was a skeptic like you once (until I studied abroad in Rome), but at least try it. Eating french fries with a bit of ketchup and mayonnaise is also really good - kind of like thousand island dressing without the tartness.

Moules frites!

1 (15- to 16-ounce) package frozen french fries
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves, forced through a press
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup dry white wine
2 pounds cultivated mussels, scrubbed (and debearded if not already)
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
salt
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Cook french fries according to package instructions and keep warm in oven if necessary.

Meanwhile, cut onion into very thin slices, then cook with garlic and a pinch of salt in butter in a wide heavy medium pot over medium-high heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until pale golden.

Add wine to onion and briskly simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until onion is almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add mussels and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until mussels just open wide, 4 to 6 minutes, checking frequently after 4 minutes and transferring as cooked to a bowl. (Discard any mussels that remain unopened.) Stir parsley into cooking liquid and season with salt. Pour liquid over mussels, then serve with fries and mayonnaise.

UPDATE 5/20/08: So, Tim and I made mussels and fries again last night, this time with a coconut curry sauce (which wasn't as good the white wine butter sauce). However, he insisted that I take a picture of the mussels with the fries for posting purposes. So, here it is.

Free Falafel tomorrow in NYC

2008-05-16T13:29:00.005-04:00

photo from lacto.com

The newly named Kosher Village (formerly Chickpea) is giving out free falafel tomorrow from 2pm until 4pm. The award presentation of $3000 (!) for renaming the restaurant will take place at 2pm. Congratulations Adi Libson!

23 3rd Avenue at St. Marks Place

(Via Gothamist)

*Please note that the above picture is not falafel from Kosher Village. I just thought it was a nice picture and made me want to eat falafel.

The Meeting

2008-05-06T10:46:00.000-04:00

Meeting Gordon Ramsey was the highlight of last week for sure. As we queued up one of the employees wrote our names on post-its and stuck it in the inside of the book. I asked her if he could sign the Kitchen Nightmares DVD that I had brought with me (I thought it would be nice to return an autographed copy since we borrowed it so long ago from friends), but she said that was against the rules. We were so far back in the line, and he would have signed so many copies already by the time he got to me, that I wasn't going to risk pissing him off. Imagine being the one person that Gordon Ramsay reams out at the book signing. Hell no I wasn't going to be that person (although I guess it would make for an interesting story.)

As we wound our way around the store, I could see people asking to take pictures with him. He seemed slightly agitated. He had a word with his publicist who then told us that Gordon wouldn't be able to stop and pose for pictures with us, but that we were allowed to take pictures while he talked to us and signed our books. I understood his time constraints. There were so many people.

When I got up to the table and handed my book to him, Gordon was having a side chat with some store employees, so I was caught off guard when he whipped open the book and said, "Hello Gigi, how are you doing?" (How did he know my name? Oh! It was on the post-it, duh).

To which I replied, "Good...I guess better now...." (ha ha ha...I am so corny.)

And then he asked me something which I wasn't prepared for. I was preparing for questions like "What do you do for a living?" or "Have you been to my restaurants before?" or "Why haven't you been to my restaurants before?" or "Do you want to come to work for me as a pastry chef?"

He asked me "So, what's for dinner tonight?"

I was so busy thinking of other things that I hadn't thought about what I was going to cook for dinner that night, so my quick reply was,

"Something from your cookbook?"

(I've gotten mixed responses on this answer from people I've told the story to. Jeff thought it was brilliant. Other people thought it was kind of stupid. What was I supposed to say? Mac and cheese?)

I quickly followed up my response with, "I cooked the pasta with anchovies dish last night." And this was true, I had bought the cookbook the night before, cooked that dish and thought it was very tasty.

And then he said, as he was scrawling his signature in my book, "I love anchovies. Lots of protein," and as he was handing me back my book, all I could do was stare and say "Yeah." and I might have muttered "Thank you," but I can't be sure since I was kind of in a daze.

And that was that. That was the extent of my conversation with Gordon Ramsay. I don't know what witty remark I could have said about the protein content of an anchovy. When I was in the supermarket, there was only one can of anchovies and tons of sardines, which prompted a Wikipedia search on the difference between anchovies and sardines (Anchovies are a family (Engraulidae) of small, common salt-water fish. Sardines or pilchards, are a group of several types of small, oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae.) I guess I could have told him that, but I'm sure he already knew that. At least he didn't yell at me.

Jeff didn't get a good picture of me with Gordon (some stupid girl kept jumping in front of the camera), so I'm posting a picture of Gordon I took while I was in line (above), and of course, the signature (per Dirk's request.)

P.S. I did end up cooking the Shrimp Pilau dish from his cookbook that night (I didn't lie!) It was really delicious, although it took a lot longer to cook than was suggested but perhaps our oven wasn't up to temperature.

NYC Events this week

2008-04-28T09:40:00.006-04:00

Clotilde Dusoulier, of Chocolate & Zucchini fame, is reading from her second book, Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris, at McNally Robinson in Soho tomorrow at 7pm. Apparently, treats are to be served. Yum! For more info, click here.

Gordon Ramsay will be signing copies of his new cookbook, Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food, at the Sur La Table in Soho on Thursday, May 1st at 6pm.

Price of Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food: $35

Meeting Gordon Ramsay: priceless

Call 212.966.3375 for more info. You may have to RSVP to the event and don't forget to order a copy of the book!

Here's a little description:

Throw away the takeout menus, ready meals, and convenience foods! These days everyone wants fast food but at the same time, they want to eat well. With his unique style, high voltage energy, and passion for good food Chef Gordon Ramsay shows how to get a great meal on the table in less time than it would take to have takeout delivered. This new bestseller is packed with ideas for 5-minute snacks, 10-minute main courses, and 30-minute menus for all occasions. A cookbook for the way we live today, Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food is the stunning follow-up to his fabulously successful library of titles.

McNally Robinson
52 Prince St. (between Lafayette and Mulberry)
New York, NY 10012 (212) 274-1160
http://www.mcnallyrobinsonnyc.com

Sur La Table

75 Spring Street

New York, NY 10012

212.966.3375
http://www.surlatable.com

Homemade Mantou

2008-04-22T13:12:00.008-04:00

So I finally got around to making homemade mantou (I said I would in my previous post about Province). I think mine need a little bit of work - they seemed a little denser than I would have liked, but I'm sure my grandma would be proud. I sauteed some scallions in a little bit of teryaki sauce and mixed it in with the dough before forming them into buns. I was hoping that the scallions would add a little bit of flavor since I wasn't going to make them into meat sandwiches. I also toasted some sesame seeds, in which I dipped the buns before steaming.

The recipe that I got off the internet says that it makes 32 buns (I think it really makes 16). I halved this recipe and made 8 buns.

Here's the recipe in full for 16 buns:

1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
4 cups all-purpose flour

In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast and sugar over 4 tablespoons of the warm water and leave it for 15 minutes. Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in the yeast mixture and the remaining water. Mix everything to a dough. Turn it onto a floured board and knead until smooth.

Return dough to the bowl, cover and let it stand in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size. Punch down, cover again and let it stand for 20 minutes longer.

Knead the dough again and shape into rolls (I found that using a bit of flour helps the shaping). Bring the water in the bottom of a steamer to a boil. Place the rolls in the steamer, leaving a 1- inch gap between them. Cook for 10 minutes, or until firm and cooked through. Serve them hot.

scallions sauteed

sesame seeds toasted and on plate ready for dipping

the dough mixed with scallions

Since I didn't have a proper steamer, I used this stainless steam vegetable steamer instead.

I turned it upside down and place it in the pot. the three metal prongs acted as a trivet.

the buns formed and dipped in sesame seeds and....

placed in the pot on top of the steamer. Covered and steamed for 10 minutes.

Voila! Homemade mantou buns. Check out the steam rising off those puppies! (I couldn't fit all the buns on one plate so had to make the remaining two on the second round.)

What do you think of the 'atmosphere' of the restaurant?

2008-04-10T18:33:00.010-04:00

dinnerinthesky.com

Just read on Mark Bittman's Bitten blog about Dinner in the Sky, where you can have dinner 164 feet up in the air. The table seats-or should I say straps in 22 people and there's space in the middle for the chef and waiters. Dinner lasts 8 hours (not sure why this is?) for the low total sum of $11,444 (this doesn't include extras such as catering and gratuity!).

The obvious question is (and a lot of comments on the Bitten blog have asked the very same), how do they go to the bathroom (and especially with dinner lasting 8 hours)?

The website doesn't offer any answers, but it does have some interesting videos. One showed a separate platform with a pianist and violinist. I suppose music is more important than anyone's bladder.

Kitchen Nightmares

2008-04-07T23:00:00.003-04:00

I just finished watching Volume 1 (includes Series 1 & 2) of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Aside from the menacing DVD cover and cheesy opening graphics animation, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the show and now have a little crush on Gordon Ramsay. [Interesting side note: while I was doing research about his background today I found out Ramsay was a professional football player at age 15!]

Kitchen Nightmares has also convinced me that US versions of existing UK shows aren't as good (some would argue that the American office is just as good as the British office, but I'm still not convinced).

Based on what I have seen on Fox of Hell's Kitchen, everyone would probably think Gordon Ramsay is an asshole. Sure, he swears and can be mean in Kitchen Nightmares, but he's giving constructive criticism and I feel that he honestly cares about and wishes success upon each restaurant he's visiting. This kind of sincerity rare for scripted television shows let alone for reality ones - I wasn't surprised to find out that it has won both a BAFTA and an Emmy.

Kitchen Nightmares is still being shown on Channel 4 in the UK and also on BBC America (too bad I don't have cable!). I supposed I could watch the US Kitchen Nightmares, but maybe I'll just wait for the next DVD to be released.

The most expensive coffee in the world comes out of an animal's butt

2008-03-20T15:11:00.007-04:00

Sorry for all the posts related to coffee (been obsessed with it lately), but I just found out that the most expensive coffee in the world comes out of the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (pictured left).

They eat the coffee cherries, of which the coffee beans pass through unharmed and are collected from the floor of the Sumatran jungles, and poof! you have Kopi Luwak. Kopi is Indonesian for coffee and Luwak is the local name for the civet.

Apparently (according to Wikipedia), Kopi Luwak ranges from $120 to $600 per pound. A quick search shows that a pound of Arabica roast on Animalcoffe.com is $180. Yowsers!

So why does it taste so good? The civet has evolved to pick out the ripest and best beans for consumption, and also, according to this article, the acids in the civet's stomach breaks down and leaches out some of the protein (proteins are what makes coffee bitter during the roasting process).

Mike the knife sharpener

2008-03-17T11:31:00.003-04:00

While walking on Adelphi Street in Brooklyn this weekend, I heard a clanging. I turned around and spotted (my first time!) the green truck. It was Mike the knife sharpener! I had heard about a guy who drove around banging on bell, and people running down from their apartments with knives and scissors to be sharpened.

Apparently, according to reviews on Chowhound, a few people have had bad experiences with Mike's. I was too far away from our house to have him sharpen any of our knives. Have any of you had your knives sharpened by Mike?

Here is an article about Mike published in the New York Times two years ago.

Granola - you can make it!

2008-02-26T11:53:00.004-05:00

Granola was always one of those things I never thought about making (I was always really impressed with restaurants who offered homemade granola - how did they do it?), but after finding this recipe by Design*Sponge's DIY Wednesday Editors, Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom, I was really inspired. This granola is super tasty and easy to make - no need to buy Bear Naked ever again! The little market that just opened in our neighborhood (Green Planet - 969 Fulton St. @ Washington in Brooklyn) has an amazing bulk food section so I was able to buy the exact amount of nuts and dried fruit.

Thanks Design*Sponge (more great pics like the one above in the original post)!

Recipe below and you can also download the recipe in PDF form here.

Granola recipe:

3 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup raw cashews
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/3 cup honey
handful of brown sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Stir all ingredients together in a big bowl.

Spread out on a cookie sheet

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, stirring and turning every 10 minutes until toasted. (Color will be a reddish brown when done)

After baking, allow to cool in pan thoroughly. Loosen granola from pan with a spatula, breaking it into small chunks as you go.

Add:
1-2 handfuls dried cranberries
1-2 handfuls raisins

Enjoy with yogurt, milk or as is!

Florent: Go While You Still Can

2008-02-23T14:57:00.006-05:00

I had the pleasure of going to Florent last night - my favorite place to eat in the Meatpacking District (okay, the only place that I eat at in that area). At the end of our meal - me, saffron cream mussels with fries and Tim, mac and cheese, our waiter told us that Florent was closing. I was bewildered for a second, as Florent is open 24 hours a day/7 days a week, but he meant that they were closing for good come March 31st.

What? They have such great affordable food and they've been there since 1985. Why? They couldn't renew their lease and a Starbucks was looking to move in. As if there aren't enough of those already. As if there are enough good French diners with incredible mussels, mac and cheese, burgers, steaks, etc. around.

So, go while you still can! They may be able to renew their lease until the end of June, but it's still uncertain.

Restaurant Florent
69 Gansevoort St.
New York, NY 10014
t/212-989-5779
www.restaurantflorent.com

UPDATE: 3/12/08 I went to Florent again last night and they said that they are going to be open until the end of June. Yay! Also! If you can call ahead to make a reservation, it's in your best interest. We had to wait 45 minutes for a table, and it was a Tuesday night!

I'm a sucker for foam

2008-02-14T16:43:00.003-05:00

If you haven't noticed from my previous posts, I'm a sucker for designs in foam. Jeff made this for me. Isn't it so sweet (despite my crappy camera phone picture)?

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

2008-02-07T11:02:00.001-05:00

Wikipedia

Happy Year of the Rat everybody! Boy can I go for some of my grandma's Nian Gao (pictured above). It's basically this gelatinous cake made with glutinous rice flour and brown sugar. It's then poured into a pan and steamed, after which it's cut into slices and pan fried (you can dip it in egg before pan frying - it makes it crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside - yum!).

Who knew something so simple can taste so good? It can be really sticky so make sure to brush your teeth and floss well afterward.

Go carbs!

An Even More Important Reminder

2008-02-05T10:45:00.000-05:00

Getty Images

Please remember to vote today!

An Important Reminder

2008-02-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

Floss.

I just came back from the dentist today and found I had peridontitis or periodontal disease (no cavities though!). And I think it could have been prevented if I flossed more. Now I'm spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars getting scaling and root planing done to get rid of tartar and plaque. Yuck.

: (

Ferntastic

2008-01-31T15:26:00.000-05:00

I came across this picture while browsing on Smosch. Isn't it lovely? I haven't been able to make cappuccinos with the "fern" yet, but my friend, Jeff, and I are taking a course next month for espresso enthusiasts at Kitten Coffee in Brookyn.

The above picture is from a cafe in Sweden. My new favorite coffee place in New York (where they also make nice designs in their coffee) is La Colombe in Tribeca.

La Colombe
319 Church St.
New York, NY 10013
(212) 343-1515
www.lacolombe.com

Spaetzle love

2008-01-28T11:34:00.000-05:00

After Tim came back from Berlin, he was obsessed with having spaetzle (an egg dumpling like noodle dish from southern Germany). But how are we supposed to make it without a spaetzle maker?! With a little innovation and effort of course!

Spaetzle is basically a doughy mixture of eggs, flour and milk which you then push through a colander/spaetzle maker/slotted spoon into boiling water. After reading some people's disastrous results with the colander, we decided to improvise and use our flat grater and just spoon the mixture on top and push the dough through with a rubber spatula.
Doesn't the spaetzle maker (right) look like a grater with a cup on top?

We used the recipe from Epicurious. It took about 4 to 5 batches before we got through all of the dough. It was a little difficult not to let the dough drip over the sides of the grater (I suppose this is where the cup of the spaetzle maker comes in handy) but it was worth it in the end! We browned some butter with sage and grated a bit of emmenthaler to go on top and sauteed some spinach as a side. Yum!

Spaetzle in Brown Butter & Sage (modified from Epicurious)

3/4 cup cold whole milk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
fresh sage - chopped (amount is up to you)
grated cheese (any kind you like - we used emmenthaler)

Combine milk, eggs, salt and nutmeg in processor; blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add flour and blend until batter is just smooth, about 30 seconds (batter will be very thick and sticky).

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Working in batches, pour batter through flat grater held above boiling water, pressing with rubber spatula to form strands. Stir gently to prevent sticking. Simmer until spaetzle float to surface, then continue cooking 1 minute longer. Make sure that spaetzle stay in water for too long, otherwise it will turn mushy. Using slotted spoon, transfer spaetzle to large buttered baking dish

Cook 1/4 cup butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Throw in chopped fresh sage and cook for 1 minute longer. Pour brown butter sage mixture over spaetzle. Toss. Top with freshly grated cheese, salt & pepper to taste. Toss.

Enjoy!

The Siphon Bar - Japanese Design Mastery

2008-01-23T11:00:00.001-05:00

Just read an article in the New York Times about the Blue Bottle Cafe in San Francisco acquiring this siphon bar from Japan to make brewed coffee. Check out this slideshow to see the owner, James Freeman, using the machine. What I admire is the patience and skill involved in the process. It also doesn't hurt that the siphon bar is a thing of beauty - even though I thought it looked like lab equipment at first - but perhaps it does require scientific precision to make a truly great cup of coffee.

Some excerpts from the article:

The secret is in how it’s stirred.
A siphon pot has two stacked glass globes, and works a little like a macchinetta, that stove-top gadget wrongly called an espresso maker by generations of graduate students. As water vapor forces water into the upper globe the coffee grounds are stirred by hand with a bamboo paddle. (In Japan, siphon coffee masters carve their own paddles to fit the shape of their palms.)
The goal is to create a deep whirlpool in no more than four turns without touching the glass. Posture is important. So is timing: siphon coffee has a brewing cycle of 45 to 90 seconds.
“The whirlpool, it messes with your mind,” said Mr. Freeman, the owner of the Blue Bottle. “There’s no way to rush it.”
Mr. Freeman said he practiced stirring plain water for months to develop muscle memory before he brewed his first cup of siphon coffee. Even now he starts every day with a five-minute warm-up. The evidence of good technique is in the sediment: the grounds should form a tight dome dotted with small bubbles, the sign of proper extraction.
...
“It’s kaleidoscopic,” Mr. Freeman said. “It’s forcing you to pay attention to every sip, because the next one is going to be different. I feel like when we serve it we’ll have to ask people to just pour it in their cup and smell it for the first minute or so.”

Which came first? How 'bout both at once!

2008-01-07T11:40:00.001-05:00

Within the last couple of weeks, I've gone to a few of brunch places where the omelet special has chicken in it.

Now wait a minute.

As my friend, Laura, pointed out, this is really weird. Think about it. Why would you want to eat the mother wrapped up inside of the baby (or potential baby - which is even weirder)? The thought of it just makes my skin tingle....

Thoughts?

Menu for Hope, Dec. 10-21

2007-12-11T10:39:00.001-05:00

Menu for Hope is an annual fundraiser hosted by Chez Pim in support of the UN World Food Programme. Food bloggers from around the world donate different prizes to the event. People can buy $10 raffle tickets (as many tickets as they want) and they will be entered into a random drawing for that prize. Last year, Menu for Hope raised $60,925.12. Let's help them raise even more this year!

A few prizes for East Coast people....(full East Coast prize list on Serious Eats)

Dinner for 2 at Blue Hill at Stone Barns

From: The Amateur Gourmet
Prize code: UE01

One-Night Stay Plus Culinary Class Package at the Vermont Culinary Resort

From: The Inn at Essex
Prize code: UE30

NYC Guided Pizza Tour for 4

From: Slice Prize code: UE19

If you want to know more, check out the FAQ section of Chez Pim. The full list of prizes from all over the world can be found here.

Mantou at Province

2007-12-09T19:04:00.001-05:00

Just had take out from Province Chinese Canteen (in Tribeca) for dinner the other night, and I'm still thinking about the sandwiches, and when I can eat them again.

I got them because they are made on "mantou," this white Chinese bun that I had growing up (my mother or grandmother would buy them frozen from the supermarket and then steam them in a pot). They are really plain (kind of like white bread), but since they are steamed they are really soft and can be dipped in congee or whatever you would like. I suppose I was curious to see if this kind of hip Chinese snack place in Tribeca would have good food - I think I'm kind of Chinese food snobbish in that way, but then again, I've had a lot of pseudo-Chinese food. What throws me is the location - if it was really authentic, then it would be in Chinatown right?

I ordered the braised pork shoulder (which came with pickles) and the short rib and kimchee sandwiches. Their mantou (the picture above is of their shiitake and portabella mushroom sandwich) are made in house with sesame seeds and are more round than traditional ones (pictured right). The mantou was soft and fluffy as if it had just came out of the steamer. I liked the short rib and kimchee sandwich more than the braised pork shoulder (though it was still good). The short ribs were marinated in Province's special sauce and were just really tender and flavorful. Honestly, I think the reason I didn't like the pork shoulder more was that I was hoping that the pork shoulder would be like this dish my grandmother used to make, but it wasn't as fatty, and I like me some fatty pork shoulder (it's disgusting I know).

I also had some sugar snap peas which were incredibly green and crisp tasting that I thought it was summer again and not 30 degrees outside. Yum! However, they came with a pepper sesame vinaigrette which was pungent and I kept smelling it on my clothes afterwards and was really paranoid about other people smelling me (so be careful, or eat these while naked).

The sandwiches are small (think English muffin size - traditional mantou is not as small), but they come 2 for $7.50 or $3.95 each ($4.25 to $4.50 for the special mantou sandwiches), which is not bad since they were so tasty and that the restaurant is in Tribeca. However, if this place were in Chinatown I think that the sandwiches would sell for $2 max (think Dumpling House prices).

But it's not going to stop me from going back there. That is, until I start making my own homemade mantou sandwiches. I just found this recipe to make mantou, and it's just yeast, sugar, water and flour. How easy it that?

UPDATE: I have tried other sandwiches including the spicy pork, chili mackerel (after reading the NY Times article), and the shiitake and portabella one. So, my favorites are definitely the spicy pork and the short rib. The chili mackerel (though highly praised in the article) didn't live up to my expectations and the mushroom one is just plain slimy.

Also check out the later post when I made mantou!

Province Chinese Canteen
305 Church Street at Walker St.
New York, NY 10013
(212) 925-1205
http://www.provincecanteen.com

Yes, it takes 3 hours, but it's worth the effort

2007-11-28T22:35:00.000-05:00

I made this "7 Cup Pudding" (my boyfriend's grandmother's recipe) for Thanksgiving. I love bread pudding, but was wary if the recipe would work out since I didn't have a steamer or a double broiler so I had to fashion a makeshift one with a Pyrex bowl and a large pot. I didn't have a trivet so I ended up putting a chopstick at the bottom of the pot so the bowl wouldn't touch the water.

Even though I had to steam the pudding for 3 hours, the result was delicious - creamy, buttery, and sweet. A friend who tasted it said it made her feel "safe." That's how comfort food should be.

7 Cup Pudding

1 cup each of:

flour

sugar

butter (1 cup = two sticks)

raisins - I bought nice fancy ones from Whole Foods and I think it really made the difference

apple (cut into small chunks)

fresh bread crumbs (slices torn into small pieces)

milk

Mix together and put in bowl. Cover with tin foil or some kind of lid and steam 3 hours in steamer or pot. Stir occasionally to mix in the melted butter. Serve with cream, corn syrup, ice cream or custard.

Dunkin' Don't Make Sense

2007-11-20T00:22:00.000-05:00

The first time it happened, up at a Dunkin' Donuts in Harlem, I thought it was just a fluke. Now that it has happened again, in Brooklyn, I just don't understand how this is supposed to make the franchise money.

I go into Dunkin' Donuts to order a sausage, egg and cheese croissant sandwich with a SMALL coffee. HOWEVER, when I went to pay, it costs MORE than if I order the Combo of the sausage, egg and cheese croissant sandwich with a MEDIUM coffee. And, no, you can't have a small coffee with the sandwich at the combo price. You have to get the medium coffee. You have to get more coffee than you wanted to drink just so you will save fifty cents.

The thought of waste and increasing my carbon footprint gnawed on my conscience, but I went ahead and got the medium coffee anyway. I just thought how ridiculous it all was and part of me wanted to stick it to Dunkin' Donuts and their stupidity. Why couldn't I just get a small coffee and have it be the same price? I would be saving Dunkin' Donuts the extra coffee, and in turn, money.

If anyone can explain to me how this is at all beneficial (perhaps someone who works for Dunkin' Donuts?), I would greatly appreciate it. I just can't wrap my head around the mathematics of it all. And I'm good at math.

Milk Update (Finally!)

2007-11-05T11:08:00.000-05:00

Okay...so after contacting the USDA (who directed me to contact the FDA), I got the following reply 2 and a half weeks later:

the regulations related to milk can be found on this site: http://www.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/cfrassemble.cgi?title=200621
use the search term to find milk requirements.

So I went to the aforementioned website and didn't find anything regarding pus or somatic cells, but after doing a little more digging on Google, I found someone else who had the same question on Google Answers.

You can go to the link to read the full answer, but I've included some interesting parts:

Somatic Cells
Cells from the body that compose the tissues, organs, and parts of that
individual other than the germ (sex) cells.
http://www.meta-library.net/biogloss/somacel-body.html
The Somatic Cell Count and Milk Quality
"The somatic cell count (SCC) is commonly used as a measure of milk quality. Somatic cells are simply animal body cells present at low levels in normal milk. High levels of these cells in milk indicate abnormal, reduced-quality milk that is caused by an intramammary bacterial infection (mastitis). The majority of the cells in a somatic cell count are leukocytes (white blood cells), and some are cells from the udder secretory tissue (epithelial cells). The epithelial cells are part of the normal body function and are shed and renewed in normal body processes. The white blood cells serve as a defense mechanism to fight disease (infection), and assist in repairing damaged tissue. Milk markets routinely rely on somatic cell counts to help ensure a quality product. SCC levels are monitored to assure compliance with state and federal milk quality standards. Today, most markets pay a premium for low SCC, good-quality milk."
http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/dairy/g1151.htm

Milk Ordinance
Table 1. Chemical, Physical, Bacteriological, and Temperature Standards

GRADE "A" RAW MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS FOR PASTEURIZATION, ULTRA-PASTEURIZATION OR ASEPTIC PROCESSING
Temperature................
Cooled to 10°C (50°F) or less within four (4) hours or less, of the commencement of the first milking, and to 7°C (45°F) or less within two (2) hours after the completion of milking. Provided, that the blend temperature after the first milking and subsequent milkings does not exceed 10°C (50°F).
Bacterial Limits...........
Individual producer milk not to exceed 100,000 per mL prior to commingling with other producer milk. Not to exceed 300,000 per mL as commingled milk prior to pasteurization.
Drugs.......................
No positive results on drug residue detection methods as referenced in Section 6 - Laboratory
Somatic Cell Count*...
Individual producer milk not to exceed 750,000 per mL.
GRADE "A" PASTEURIZED MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS AND BULK SHIPPED HEAT-TREATED MILK PRODUCTS
Temperature................
Cooled to 7°C (45°F) or less and maintained thereat.
Bacterial Limits**......
20,000 per mL, or gm.***
Coliform****..............
Not to exceed 10 per mL. Provided, that in the case of bulk milk transport tank shipments, shall not exceed 100 per mL.
Phosphatase*****.........
Less than 350 milliunits/L for fluid products and other milk products by the Fluorometer or Charm ALP or equivalent.
Drugs**......................
No positive results on drug residue detection methods as referenced in Section 6 - Laboratory Techniques which have been found to be acceptable for use with pasteurized and heat-treated milk and milk products
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~ear/pmo03-2.html#sec7
******I recommend going to the above site to see the full Milk Ordinance table*******

Summary
A Somatic Cell Count (mostly white blood cells) is not tested in pasteurized milk because it is tested "at the farm gate". Milk will never be 100% free of somatic cells because they are a normal part of lactation. However, taking a Somatic Cell Count is important because a high count will effect the quality of the product (off flavor,color, and smell plus a reduced shelf life). A dairy farmer's raw milk collection cannot exceed a somatic cell count of 750,000 per mL at the farm gate. Cell count is determined by the health of the animals and the milk from one cow with mastitis (udder infection) will have a very high cell count, however, that cell count will be diluted when added to the rest of the herd's milk. The farm's milk is added to a truckload of milk from other farms which will dilute the cell count per mL further, and then that truckload is added to all the other truckloads at the dairy processing plant, diluting the cell count even further. Therefore, by the time the milk is bottled up, the milk will contain a somatic cell count of no more than 750,000 per mL and likely a lot less. Pasteurization is used to lower bacterial levels and not to reduce the somatic cell count.

So there you have it, ladies and gents. Milk, all milk and not just chocolate milk, has blood in it.

The Truth About Chocolate Milk

2007-10-16T22:32:00.004-04:00

At dinner tonight I learned that chocolate milk is made with blood-contaminated milk that can't be sold as regular milk because it's pink.

Um, ewwwww.....good thing I drank only regular milk growing up....

However, after I decided to post this disgusting fact about chocolate milk, a recent Google search and read on Snopes.com reveals that it's not true. Seems like the good ol' FDA is doing its job.

BUT, a further search brought me to the NOTMILK website, where there are tons of articles and links about cow's milk. Below is a quote from an article by Robert M. Kradjian, MD, Breast Surgery Chief Division of General Surgery, of Seton Medical Centre #302 in Daly City, CA.

Any lactating mammal excretes toxins through her milk. This includes antibiotics, pesticides, chemicals and hormones. Also, all cows' milk contains blood! The inspectors are simply asked to keep it under certain limits. You may be horrified to learn that the USDA allows milk to contain from one to one and a half million white blood cells per millilitre. (That’s only 1/30 of an ounce). If you don’t already know this, I’m sorry to tell you that another way to describe white cells where they don’t belong would be to call them pus cells. To get to the point, is milk pure or is it a chemical, biological, and bacterial cocktail? Finally, will the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protect you? The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) tells us that the FDA and the individual States are failing to protect the public from drug residues in milk. Authorities test for only 4 of the 82 drugs in dairy cows.

Interesting....so even if it's regular milk it still has blood in it (though we don't see it). That's gross. Well, I suppose I suggest switching over to soy milk for now (you don't want to be drinking any pus!) while I try to navigate the FDA archives to get to the bottom of this.

** Update: Please see later post "Milk Update (Finally)" for what I found out...

Enough about sandwiches already!

2007-10-04T12:00:00.000-04:00

I know we've pounded the sandwich issue to a pulp already, but The New York Times Dining & Wine section has an article about everybody's favorite sandwich, the grilled cheese!

A couple of excerpts:

For the past four years, this city (Los Angeles) has also been home to the Grilled Cheese Invitational. Roughly 600 people show up at an unpublicized address, armed with frying pans and camping stoves, and are given 20 minutes to demonstrate their grilled cheese prowess. (One year, a contestant constructed an eight-foot grilled sandwich rendition of “The Gates” by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.)

“Grilled cheese is basically fat on fat on fat,” Mr. Greenspan said cheerfully.

$14,500 dessert - what?

2007-09-29T00:11:00.001-04:00

A resort in Sri Lanka is charging $14,500 for the dessert pictured above according to AP. "The Fortress Stilt Fisherman Indulgence" is "a gold leaf Italian cassata flavored with Irish cream, served with a mango and pomegranate compote and a champagne sabayon enlighten. It's decorated with a chocolate carving of a fisherman clinging to a stilt - an age-old local fishing practice - and an 80-carat aquamarine stone."

David Letterman did "Top Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before Buying a $14,500 Dessert", number 1 being "Do I really want to be fat and a dumbass?"

Best Car Ad

2007-09-28T15:13:00.003-04:00

Most car ads nowadays pretty much stink. This one - for Skoda Fabia - really put a smile on my face. Can you guess why?

Marfood

2007-09-22T15:22:00.001-04:00

Sorry that it has taken me this long to post this - things were a bit hectic after getting back and then there was the Sandwich Poll to deal with.

One of the places we visited was Marfa, TX, a small town, where Donald Judd lived and worked from 1972 until his death in 1994. We went there to visit the Chinati Foundation, the Judd foundation and Ballroom Marfa. We had been in New Mexico at White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns before driving to Marfa, and had only eaten at chain restaurants, so we were ready for some good food.

We got in Tuesday afternoon, and after settling in at our hotel, looked at the list of restaurants in the hotel guide. After calling a few, we decided to go to Jett's Grill (or rather it was decided for us since it was the only place in town open for dinner).

I was less than excited because the name suggested to me some really sleazy bar with dim lighting and dirty pool tables. But what choice did we have?

Though Marfa is a small town, we had trouble finding the restaurant, but that was because it was inside the Hotel Paisano (the headquarters for the film Giant), which we didn't know. Jett's Grill was not a sleazy bar, but a fine dining establishment with linen tablecloths and antique furnishings . We sat outside on the enclosed patio that had a fountain and some fancy shrubbery. It didn't feel like we were in Marfa, though I wasn't sure at the time what Marfa should be like.

I had a fried steak that was encrusted with pistachios (yum!) over a bed of mashed potatoes. Even better than the steak was the side of broccoli - cooked just until tender and I don't know what they put on it - butter? - to make it so mouthwatering. The meal wasn't cheap ($15-$20 mains), but wasn't overly expensive either for being a restaurant in a hotel.

The next morning we grabbed coffee and homemade muffins at the coffee shop next to the Marfa Book Company. The coffee was strong and smooth (roasted by Big Bend roasters) and a small cup is $1 (It's been a long time since I've gotten a cup of coffee for a dollar!).

After the morning tour at the Chinati Foundation we had lunch at the Food Shark. The Food Shark is a traveling taco truck, and parks itself in a sandy lot across from the Marfa Book Company. They have daily specials in addition to their menu of falafel sandwiches and veggie and hummus sandwiches.

I got one of the specials - a grilled vegetable torta, which was delicious (the guacamole was especially tasty) and a Mexican coke, which is a coke in tall glass bottle that tastes a little sweeter than regular coke. It was nice to eat at the picnic tables underneath this awning. I overheard a local guy say that it was the best place to get lunch in town.

For dinner we headed to the Italian restaurant, Maiya's. It came highly recommended by several people we knew who had lived in Marfa at one time or another. When we entered the restaurant, I thought that I was back in New York: high ceilings, a red painted wall by the bar, black wood furniture, crisp white linens, minimalist design. The food was incredible. We started off with a beet and goat cheese salad that came with walnuts. For entrees, I had the penne vodka, extremely creamy and a little spicy (however, by the end, the initial burst of flavor mellowed out and I felt I couldn't really taste the pasta anymore - it was weird). Tim had the mushroom lasagna (the pasta is homemade) which was oozing with flavor. We finished with homemade pistachio ice cream.

Though we really enjoyed the food, I was left feeling a little uncomfortable afterwards. My pasta dish was $19 and Tim's was $22, and I was thinking that I probably wouldn't pay these prices even if I was in New York. I guess I had come to Marfa thinking that because it was a small town, that food and everything else wouldn't be that expensive, but Marfa is like a little New York now.

I guess since Donald Judd moved to the town (he was the town's second largest employer after the school board), the town began to change. It's still changing with artists going there to live or to do residencies. More galleries are springing up. We even saw a specialty grocery store that was about to open. All of these places have a certain aesthetic (sans serif signage, cool colors, modern design), which I like, but I felt bad for liking because I wanted to know what the real Marfa was like. I wondered if the townspeople who lived there hated the gentrification that was happening or was used to it because of Judd.

We went to The Brown Recluse for breakfast the next morning. What I liked about it was that the cafe/restaurant was in a house and it felt like a breakfast place I had been to before in Boston. They also had a small used book section with CD's by local artists.

We both ordered different Mexican egg dishes at the register and they gave us a toy (picachu-like) to place on our table so that the waitress could find us when our food was ready. I thought that their system was good - everyone ordering up at the register for take out or for table service (you can tip up at the register). I've been to a cafe before where they tried to do take-out and table service but it was so confusing. There wasn't a clear separation between the take-out and the table service, and the same person would be ringing up take-out orders so you would see someone going up to the counter to order, and then you would do the same, but if they asked you if you wanted to sit down, they would tell you to sit down and then come over with menus and act as if you coming up to the counter never happened. It was so strange, plus the people who worked there weren't very nice. Imagine that cashier telling you that, as you were setting your to-go coffee cup on one of the tables just to put in sugar, she would have to pour your coffee into a mug if you were staying. Needless to say that cafe no longer exists.

Anyway, when our waitress brought us our food both egg dishes looked the same and ended up tasting similar even though Tim's had prickly pear cactus (which I was excited to try, but still don't know what it tastes like). The eggs came with some tortillas and a side of beans, which were unfortunately extremely bland. I was slightly disappointed even though I really liked the ambiance and the staff there. One good thing - the coffee, like the Marfa Book Company coffee shop, was from Big Bend Roasters.

Tim and I took a tour of La Mansana/The Block, where Donald Judd lived. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable, and it was even better than the tour at the Chinati Foundation. After the tour ended we stuck around taking pictures. Judd had a vegetable garden which was still being maintained, and our tour guide gave us some tomatoes and jalapenos (no, they were not cube shaped, but wouldn't it be cool if they were?).

We skipped lunch and then had trouble finding a place for dinner again. Pizza Foundation and the Blue Javelina were both closed for vacation. So we headed to Alpine (a neighboring town) to Reata, small chain restaurant whose Fort Worth location is very popular.

Apparently we went on the day that Reata had just opened after renovating their kitchen. Our waitress apologized to us after delivering the Reata wedge salad (iceberg lettuce - which I didn't know could taste so good - with peppers and an amazing pico dressing and usually blue cheese but they were out), that our fried onion rings were going to take a few more minutes. They had burnt them, and the dishwasher was acting as the kitchen expediter so food service wasn't running as smoothly. We weren't upset at all but we appreciated her concern.

After getting our onion rings, which came with a spicy ketchup, our waitress told us they had cooked the wrong fish dish for me, and thus it would take a little while longer to get our entrees. Mind you, all of this "waiting" we were doing didn't seem like waiting to us, and we understood that this was the first day back for everyone after the restaurant had been closed for renovation.

However, a few minutes later, a manager came to our table and apologized profusely for the mistakes and that he would give us a discount and a free dessert. Both Tim and I thought that we had heard wrong - discount and a free dessert. Surely it must be one or the other.

As we were finishing our chocolate bread pudding which was cooked in a corn husk (double yum!), we got our bill. To our surprise we had gotten a free dessert and a 20% discount. We spent several minutes trying to figure out what an appropriate tip would be and ended up leaving a huge tip of something like 35%. It felt strange - one, because we didn't think the restaurant didn't do anything wrong and two, because they overcompensated, we felt like we had to overcompensate with the tip.

Our last day at Marfa before we headed to the hot springs we went to Conchita's. They weren't serving breakfast anymore when we got there (and we were the only ones there), but one of the waiters said that she makes a really good bean burrito. So we decided to stay.

Our waiter was a husky guy in a football jersey with closely cropped hair. He was extremely polite and soft spoken, which I found incongruous and touching at the same time.

More people came in for lunch and I could see why this place was popular. I got a chile releno torta, and it was one of the most delicious sandwiches I've ever had. It wasn't too cheesy, and you could really taste the pepper, the avocado and the tomato. The bread was so soft that the whole thing seemed to melt when I bit into it. And it was only $4.

All in all, I really enjoyed the food in Marfa. I was sad that a couple of the restaurants we wanted to try were closed, but there's always next time...

I am not including addresses and phone numbers for a couple of reasons: Marfa is small enough to easily find all of these places, plus I feel as if I have to get additional info, it will delay my posting further. You can find more information at each establishment's website and the general Marfa websites I have listed.

www.hotelpaisano.com/pages/jetts.html

The Marfa Book Company's website says that it has closed its coffee and wine bar, but that is not true - it reopened next door. (432) 729-4546

www.foodsharkmarfa.com

www.maiyasrestaurant.com

www.brownreclusemarfa.com

www.reata.net

Conchita's does not have a website: 300 W San Antonio St, (432) 729-4875

www.marfatx.com
www.marfa.org
www.marfacc.com

A note from a reader...

2007-09-19T22:49:00.001-04:00

I received this comment after the posting of the Sandwich Poll winner, and thought that I would share it with you because I thought it was hilarious:

Oh come on...these results are rigged by the veggie lobby. I want a recount. Reuben wins hands-down. First of all, its a Biblical name (ie its got serious Judeo-Christian history on its side....not to mention that in Hebrew it means: behold a son)! Plus its got all the four major food groups covered in spades. You got your grains: Rye bread, meat: corned-beef (which is a powerful combo of meat and veggie, ie "corned"), veggie: sauerkraut, and dairy: swiss cheese. My god, now that I think about it....its the perfect food package. That's it....Reubens for every meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner! I'm gonna make one right NOW!

And the winner is....

2007-09-17T09:50:00.001-04:00

It's a tie! Grilled Cheese & Ploughman's each tied for first with 4 votes.

Ploughman's is not usually grilled - just some slices of cheddar cheese and Branston pickle. But in the spirit of the tie, I decided to make a cross between the two sandwiches - a Grilled Ploughman's.

I was able to pick up a jar of Branston pickle at the Key Food in Park Slope (they have a small section of English foodstuffs).

Branston pickle is a basically a bunch of vegetables with spices (Carrots, Cauliflower, Gherkins, Marrows, Onions, Rutabaga, Tomatoes, Sugar, Vinegar, Dates, Salt, Apple, Modified Starch, Lemon Juice, Colourant, Spices, Garlic Extract).

I cut some good ol' Cabot Extra Sharp cheddar cheese and spread some Branston pickle on a piece of Arnold Country White (whole grain) bread.

Then I melted some Breakstone's butter in a pan and fried up the sandwich.

It tasted...surprisingly good, kind of sweet and tangy, which was a good complement to the melted cheese. Tim and Gina were there to try it with me. They both liked it. Tim said that it tasted a bit like pickled walnuts. Gina liked it, too, but wasn't sure if she would like it if it wasn't grilled. I think that I will get to like Branston pickle as much as I like Marmite.

The full results of the Sandwich Poll are below. The Reuben, Fresh Mozzarella, Breakfast, Tuna Salad and Bahn Mi sandwiches tied for second with 3 votes each, and Peanut Butter & Banana came in third with 2 votes.

Congratulations to Grilled Cheese and Ploughman's!

Results:

Reuben	3 (9%)
BLT	0 (0%)
Croque Madame/Monsieur	1 (3%)
Fresh Mozzarella	3 (9%)
Tuna Melt	1 (3%)
Chicken Salad	0 (0%)
Peanut Butter & Jelly	0 (0%)
Fluffernutter	0 (0%)
Peanut Butter & Banana	2 (6%)
Philly Cheesteak	0 (0%)
Grilled Cheese	4 (12%)
Breakfast (any combination of egg/cheese/sausage/bacon)	3 (9%)
Turkey Club	0 (0%)
Oyster Po' Boy	0 (0%)
Tuna Salad	3 (9%)
Sloppy Joe	0 (0%)
Cuban	1 (3%)
Ploughman's (cheddar cheese & Branston pickle)	4 (12%)
Falafel	1 (3%)
Bahn Mi	3 (9%)
Tofu	0 (0%)
Egg Salad	1 (3%)
Veggie & Hummus	1 (3%)
Monte Crisco	0 (0%)
Cucumber	0 (0%)
Ham and Cheese	0 (0%)
Italian	0 (0%)
Meatball Sub	0 (0%)