Summer cooking update

What did I cook this summer? Nothing. It's been mainly tomatoes cut up with some olive oil and basil, grilled zucchini slices that I brush with a mixture of olive oil, salt, dried herbs and tomato paste, and roasted eggplant slices that make my mouth itchy (ugh, allergies). The few things I have managed to make this summer:

Sopes after I had to make refried beans from my over-pressure-cooked pot of black beans topped with shredded chicken breast with achiote

Turkey tacos because I wanted to try out the new Rick Bayless frontera grill skillet sauces. I used my mini muffin tray turned upside down to hold these

Cherry brown butter tart because we had an over abundance of cherries after we went cherry picking in Jersey. Not a huge fan of this actually

Roasted carrots that I decided I had to make after I had the roasted carrot and avocado salad at ABC Kitchen

Peach crumble a la Orangette because our peaches were going to go bad. I later made this with plums. With plums it's better.

Speculoos ice cream with speculoos cookies I brought over from Paris. Might try this using the spread next time since letting the cooking dissolve in the ice cream base liquid made it a little grainy

Kimchi pancakes although I didn't notice that the kimchi had MSG in it (boo!)

Soba noodles with zucchini which is a great summer dish. Actually, soba with anything is a great summer dish. Even plain soba.

Spaghetti with spinach pesto, Parmesan and pine nuts

Slow-roasted tomatoes which I then packed in olive oil for later use. These are getting ready to go in the oven

Hurricane cooking

We were holed up in our apartment for most of the Hurricane Irene weekend, starting at around 4pm Saturday though Monday morning. Friday night we went out for some wine and small plates at Bar Veloce but not before I finished making some high-protein savory muffins. They have cottage cheese, eggs, almond meal, the slow roasted tomatoes I made a little while back, basil and cheese. No butter or oil! And you can use low fat cottage cheese! JP hated them. I loved them. Try them - they're really good and you can change the flavorings as you wish.

Saturday morning I went for a walk down to Union Square where some rebellious farmers set up their market stands (I thought all outdoor markets were cancelled). There was a short downpour during which I stayed under one of the tents but afterwards, lots of washed fruits and veggies:

These are called sanditas but don't mistake these for mini-watermelons (although that would be awesome). They're actually mini cucumbers (officially called Mexican sour gherkins). But they don't taste that good - the skin is kinda thick and the seeds are pretty much all that's inside.

After the market but before it started pouring JP and I took a walk around which ended up with up going to Hill Country Chicken (surprisingly open) and eating some fried chicken and biscuits. Their biscuits are awesome.

You know what else is awesome? Squirrels. Or at least squirrels in Madison Square Park that get close enough for you to photograph them.

Later in the evening I made a plum galette from some plums I grabbed Friday at the Rockefeller market. Although some sugar got burned in the oven which created a lot of smoke in our apartment and I spent the next morning trying to scrape it off (success!)

And for breakfast on Sunday I brought out my aebelskiver pan and make aebelskivers (puffy Danish pancakes).

I filled some with champagne grapes, others with raspberries and a couple with mini chocolate chips. the grape ones were the best - each grape was like a tiny burst of sugar when biting into it. YUM.

Midtown food trucks that parked near my work before the ban

I wrote this post before all the food trucks were banned from Midtown. Hopefully they're allowed to come back soon...I used to have a list of trucks that rotated daily. Nowadays you'd be lucky to find one in the area. Although some trucks have started setting up carts - I can still get waffels on Friday. So here's a run-down of what used to park near work.

Mexicue I've only gone once and ordered the chili bowl and a beet taco. The chili bowls was disappointing - it was a hollowed out bun (a little stale at that) with beans and meat ant toppings, but not enough of them. Maybe 4 forkfuls of filling. The roasted beet taco on the other hand was really good.

Kimchi Taco This is probably my favorite truck that used to come by. The first time I tried this truck, it was parked in front of Le Bernardin (which isn't all that if you ask me) and a cop came by and made them move (the poor guy was actually really nice, and they tried to bribe him with food but he made a good point that the building will just call them again). Anyhow, their rice bowls are ridiculously good and super filling (enough for two meals but since I am a goldfish, I eat it all at once).

The multigrain rice is definitely the way to go. Not sure what's in it but it looks like lots of other legumes that make the rice almost purple (it's way better than the purple rice+beans they have at Korean restaurants). I got this with spicy pork and scarfed it down. Problem is, leftover bits of kimchee start smelling after a while and I think I scared away several coworkers during the course of the afternoon. But I'm shameless and the next time I got tacos (one bulgogi, one spicy pork and one chicken). I'm not a fan of the bulgogi they serve - it was extra heavy on the cumin I think (or was it corinader? I forget). I think the bowl is a much better value and better tasting. So I'll be sticking to the spicy pork from now on. And, I have to add that their kimchi arancini were really good - even JP enjoyed them (he got a kimcheesesteak minus the kimchi). Oh, and one more thing - their mild sauce is very mild so stick to their hot sauce

Taim The vegetarian option. I've had falafel from here four times so far. One regular falafel sandwich, one special tomato and basil falafel sandwich which turned out to be dry, one hummus sandwich which I will get next time with extra cabbage salad and no quinoa salad (is it bad of me to admit that I don't think I'm a huge fan of quinoa?), and one Sabich. Secretly (maybe because I love cabbage so much), I still think L'as du Falafel in Paris was the best falafel sandwich I've had. But my go-to here is now the Sabich (it's a special so they don't always have it). Deep fried eggplant slices (not breaded) stuffed into the same pita with tahini and hummus and salad as the regular falafel sandwich. It comes with a sliced hardboiled egg inside for those of you who like it. I don't. Next time I will ask for it without. The guy taking the order steered me away from the whole wheat pita for the Sabbich and he pretty much knows what he's talking about. The regular pita soaks up the greasy eggplant juices better but I didn't find the sandwich to be too greasy overall. Don't forget to ask for the spicy sauce (S'rug) inside the pita - it makes a big difference. One thing I wasn't a fan of was their Date-Lime-Banana smoothie. But their fries are really good - on the thinner side and nicely crispy.

Joyride  A froyo/coffee truck. I got their original and topped it with blackberries and croquantes (chocolate covered rice krispie ball type things). It reminded me of Pinkberry although a tiny bit icier and with a richer mouthfeel. Too bad no trucks in midtown anymore as I would've become a regular customer for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up during the summer as there is no Pinkberry within a 5-minute walking distance from here. Although I'm scared to ask about the calorie count

Coolhaus ice cream truck

I ordered earl grey ice cream on a brioche but I think I got sugar cookies actually...regardless, after waiting in line for 45 minutes for an ice cream sandwich (and I went around 4:30pm!), I got this behemoth:

Their architectural concept is pretty cool. You can mix-and-match any of their cookies and ice cream flavors into an ice-cream sandwich, or you can get one of their "recommended" combinations, playfully named after famous architects like Mies Vanilla Rohe (Mies van der Rohe), Frank Behry (Frank Gehry), and Richard Meyer Lemon. 

The locally-baked cookies are good and the ice cream is unique and tasty. I would go a little more adventurous next time and most definitely share. Since all the food trucks were kicked out from Midtown recently, I'll have to visit the Lot on Tap under the Highline to sample Coolhaus again. But then there's also Van Leeuwen there...and sometimes Kelvin Slush. Dilemmas, dilemmas...

Coppelia - a new Latin diner

AB visited this weekend from Rhode Island before he goes down to Brazil later in the summer. He finally met JP and vice-versa (although it seemed as if both of them didn't believe the other existed...). The visit pretty much meant non-stop eating, starting with Saturday brunch at Coppelia, a newly opened Cuban diner from the chef behind Toloache (love their margaritas). It's conveniently located on 14th and 7th, and will soon be open 24 hours. I really liked the decor - comfortable unpretentious booths with (Formica?) tables evoking the diner-feel, with the decor being predominantly in the warm yellow/ocean turquoise color palette. 

What stood out the most for me were the Torreijas de Oliva, pretty much a slice of french toast laden with olive oil, in the best of ways, and with a crispy brulee'd crust. it was almost pudding-like in consistency. 

I also had a semi-spaz moment when Pichet Ong, their consulting dessert chef walked in. He definitely saw me staring at him wide-eyed. I also took him to Ippudo (2 hour wait as always) and the pork buns were just as good as I remembered them to be. Now if only that rumored location in Midtown would open so maybe the wait time would be cut down to 1.5hrs...

Visting the twin in Durham

I've been unpacking/making house since the day we moved into our new apartment (April 7th). That moving day was fairly hell-ish. It started with me waking up at 7:30am to finish anything that needed to be finished/packed in our corporate apartment, to going to our new apartment at 9am and having all my stuff from Paris finally delivered (yay!) to picking up our UHaul truck and going back to the corporate apt and picking up all our stuff and then dropping by JL's to pick up the TV, dresser and chair, then back to the new apartment to drop things off (mind you, this is in the middle of the day so traffic in NYC is not so fun), and then going to IKEA in Elizabeth and spending lots of time and energy there and basically we finally dropped the UHaul off at around 8pm and they charged us an extra $30-$50 because apparently we were supposed to have the truck inspected before we left with it but we didn't because they told us to JUST GO PICK UP THE TRUCK. so there we went with keys in hand. ANYHOW. 

Thankfully, the weekend before that hell-ish weekend, I spent some quality time in (unfortunately not too warm) Durham, NC with my twin, SK. I figured since she's graduating Duke Law this year, I should go down there one more time (I make it seem like I've been a lot, but no, only once before). Plus, I love me some barbeque. The other time I went, it was non-stop eating, including taco-truck-hopping that we devised. This time was fairly similar as we were pretty much in a food coma all weekend (although a pleasant one).

After arriving in the morning, we had lunch at Toast, a paninoteca which seems like nothing special from the outside. But our sandwiches were ridiculously good and I give them points for not using bread that is overwhelming (e.g., ciabatta). No, they used some kind of hearty wheat-type rustic italian bread which made me think what I was eating was way healthier than what it was. We ordered two paninis and split them. I went for a spin on a classic pasta dish of rapini, italian sausage, roasted garlic and asiago fresca cheese, while SK got the panini with grilled chicken, roasted peppers, mozzarella and salsa verde. Not, I'm not a huge fan of bell peppers/roasted pepper but SK's pick was ridiculously delicious with just the right amount of heat from the salsa. I would have ordered a second one in a heartbeat had we not had other eating plans lined up. Oh, I also tried Cheerwine which has been getting a lot of traction in NYC recently it seems. It's cherry soda. Tastes kinda like Dr. Pepper to me. And contrary to what the name may lead you to believe there is no alcohol content.

We followed up our paninis with a little bit of walking, some window shopping and locopops, gourmet popsicles that are pretty much the equivalent of paletas. And you know I love paletas. I don't think I picked the best one (black raspberry and tangerine) but it was still good and I remember the one I had two years ago was really good too. Whatever, I eat pretty much anything that's put in front of me except for some things.

Our trip to locopops was followed by a fruitless effort to locate the NC Bulgogi truck. Firstly, we are twitter-inept and secondly, the truck lied. They said they weren't doing lunch service that day but they didn't say anything about dinner, and so we kept driving by their spot but they just weren't there! We decided to give them an extra 30 minutes to show up while eating the new Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack ice cream. You know, I thought I'd really like this one since I'm a huge fan of the sweet/salty combo but it just didn't win me over. The ice cream base was too sweet and the chocolate covered potato chips weren't salty enough. In fact, they weren't even chips, they were kind little pulverized balls of potato-chip-stuff that was more mushy than crispy. Fail. And NC Bulgogi truck fail by this time as well. 

So what to do when you can't have korean tacos and kimchi quesadillas? You go and get mexican tacos as a place called Chubby's Tacos whole logo is an overweight, belly-sticking-out cousin of Speedy Gonzales. My tacos: Carnitas (juicy! flavorful! yumyum!) and Al Pastor (why is this so cloyingly sweeeet???). The best part about this place is the serve-yourself salsa bar with about 10 different salsas to pick from. That and the fact that it's so cheap. Each of my tacos were $2 and came with two tortillas. I also had their agua de melon but I wouldn't bother again - it's artificially flavored and tastes funny. 

If you think that's all we are that day you'd be mistaken. We went out in Chapel Hill where I had one of my first encounters of a real-life campus college, complete with a bar filled with fraternity/sorority people coming back from some kind of formal, and a ton of southern-looking blonde girls. After said bar? Fried chicken and cheddar biscuits at Time-Out at 1:30am. This thing is a monster for $4.50. SK and I shared although she did get herself an extra biscuit. They basically cut open a hot biscuit, put some fried chicken breast in there with a few slices of cheddar which end up melting and provide the right amount of moisture to the sandwich. And the chicken was hands down one of the moistest (is that a word?) pieces of fried chicken I have ever had. Not even fried chicken, just chicken in general. It was surprisingly super juicy. Needless to say, we went home quite happy that night.

And our food adventures continued the next day as how could I go down to North Carolina and not have some pulled pork and hush puppies? That's the thing I was most looking forward to! Last time we went to Q-Shack, a place where the hush puppies are so good I still drool thinking about them. This time we went more traditional and went to Allen & Sons. Yelp reviews made it seems as if it was down some sketchy dirt road in the middle of the woods in who-knows where. No, its just on the corner of a pretty large paved road surrounded by trees. Maybe a little further down are the boonies but we didn't venture that way. Plus, I think Audis and BMWs in the parking lot signify something other than middle-of-nowhere. Behold the sole barbeque I ate that weekend: a pulled pork sandwich with hush puppies and sweet tea followed by a pie-ish banana pudding. 

The sesame seed bun was super soft and I liked how they didn't sauce the meat for you but let you do it yourself. The only strange thing was that I got a couple of unchewable black pieces in my pulled pork but I guess it's just the super burnt parts. But I had to discreetly (not so much actually) take them out of my mouth and put them aside. Hush puppies were super-fried and really sweet. I think I prefer mine with a thinner crust but these were still good. And unlimited refills of sweet tea. Sigh. This is the good stuff right here.

But the banana pudding wasn't enough. I had read about Scratch Bakery before coming down there and had to go. I was warned that they sometimes run out of things but they seemed pretty well stocked (maybe they've gotten used to their popularity?) when we came by around 2pm. I was looking for their peanut pie which Serious Eats ranked as one of their favorite but apparently it's a seasonal special. So we went with a slice of buttermilk sugar pie and a slice of lemon chess pie, although as some point we were considering getting two more slices (vanilla carrot cream and I think the mexican chocolate cream). I loved the buttermilk sugar pie. It reminded me a little bit of tvorog, a russian farmer's cheese. And I was amazed at how the crust stood up to the fillings of both pies. Unfortunately, we were so full that we didn't finish both slices completely, but almost. I was proud of us. 

Since we didn't want to be complete fatties, we went shopping to walk it off. I, of course, had to go and buy something at Anthro (pants! $20!) but we were really looking for a semi-formal dress for SK, which we found at Urban....we also had an Apple Pie Apple while shopping from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. It's a Granny Smith apple covered in caramel, then some white sugary candy stuff, and finally rolled in brown sugar and cinnamon. Most impressive was how they cut it to make it more manageable to eat!

Sunday eating did not end there but with a fancy dinner at Nana's. We had gnocchi carbonara (peas, pancetta, etc) and really good wheat foccacia, as well as fried oysters and calamari to start, followed by some fish (what fish did I order...I forget), and a cast iron grilled chicken with a butternut squash risotto cake. Neither of us finished our entrees (this is the danger of eating so much food during the day!) but somehow we managed to have room for dessert...a meyer lemon bavarian mousse with mini honey-almond madelines and raspberries. 

Ridiculously delicious weekend.

Americana

July 4th festivities! It was kickball and picnic time with the Americans at the Bois de Boulogne. Cheese, baguettes, wine, chicken and thyme flavored potato chips (and bbq flavor too!), cherries, more wine...and RICE KRISPIES! Courtesy of yours truly. It just seemed like the right thing to make when its super hot outside and you're in a foreign country celebrating July 4th.  I forgot to take pics except for the "garbage pail" ones, which have a slightly green tint to them (more on that later).

They were pretty much devoured over the course of a couple hours which made me quite happy and made me feel very American. Plus, these things are so easy to make - butter, marshmallows and cereal. I'm not one for overly processed foods but I can make an exception here.

I had scoured 4 grocery stores for Rice Krispies (Kellogs website says they are available in France). No Snap, Crackle or Pop to be seen. I found a little monkey and a frog (how french). And then, remembering I needed butter, I walked into a G20 supermarket and found them. So you do exist...

And where did I find marshmallows? They're not marshmallows, they're Haribo chamallows. Ok Haribo, sure why not. Lessons learned about Haribo chamallows:

- The best ones for rice krispies are the pink and white marshmallows

- The "barbecue marshmallows" which I thought would melt better had a funny sweet aftertaste (do you see the big marshmallow roasting the little one? So wrong...)

- The green, pink and white marshmallows (also Haribo but I picked them up the morning of the picnic for the last batch so they're not in the picture) have a fleur d'oranger taste to them

I made four batches:

- Cocoa pops (chocolate krispies) with salted brown butter - by far the best and my go-to recipe in the future

- Regular rice krispie treats

- Smacks (puffed bulgur wheat) with chocolate caramel on top - I didn't bring these out for people to try, they were so bad. Never use puffed bulgur wheat for krispies. blah

- Garbage pail - the remains of the cereals, also with salted brown butter and marshmallows that randomly had a hint of fleur d'oranger and ended up being my second favorite after the salted brown butter

Salted brown butter Cocoa Krispies

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen 

7 cups cocoa krispies (Cocoa pops)

10 oz marshmallows (I wish I had Jet-Puff but the Haribo pink and white work well)

4 ounces butter

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Coat a 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray (I had none so I rubbed it with a neutral oil). Combine the cereal and salt in a bowl and mix well.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. It will first foam, then it will become clear yellow with white milk solids floating around on top and then the milk solids will start to brown. At this point, start stirring frequently (wooden spoon) and scraping the browned milk solids from the bottom.  And don't even think about leaving for a minute. Burning butter makes it bitter (yes say it 10 times fast please)

Once the melted butter is a tan color and smells nutty, remove from heat and immediately add the marshmallows. Stir stir stir until your arm is tired. At that point, most of the marshmallows should have melted. If they're not all melted, return to medium-low heat and stir the mixture until everything is a smooth paste. 

Remove from heat and add the cereal with the salt mixed in. Again, work your arm muscles to mix everything together, making sure to pick up all the marshmallow mixture at the bottom of the saucepan. Invert the mix into the baking pan and use a buttered piece of wax or parchment paper to press down the krispies and get them into the corners. Cool, cut and eat. Or put in an airtight container and serve the next day.

In a cooking frenzy - Part 1

I went on a cooking frenzy after going to the market. Cherries and apricots are both in season so I got a bunch, among other things.

I can't resist when sweet, juicy apricots are €2 per kilo! Of course, most bruised and I was forced to make them into jam!

It was my first foray into jam making. Pretty tasty so far but a little too sweet. I was also afraid I wouldn't boil it long enough and it would come out soupy but no. Its quite the opposite...but the taste is there. I swear!

Recently I had a panna cotta-like fromage frais 0% fat dessert somewhere so in my attempt to recreate it, I got some fromage blanc (I couldn't find fromage frais) and mixed it with some gelatin and now its sitting in the fridge. We'll see how it turns out. And I think I'm just going to stick with this as my yogurt from now on. So sad hasn't been in my life for the past 5 months!

I also got some broccoli. I used to really dislike it (its a texture thing) but its recently grown on me and it makes a very satisfying and filling dish (especially when making it with garlic and red pepper flakes and pairing it with some parm, bacon (!), toasted almonds). I burnt the garlic, as always. I ate it as a main but you can make it as a side or toss it with some pasta.

Spicy broccoli with other stuff

Broccoli cut into florets
1/2 cup of lardons, or diced bacon
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (I like mine spicy!)
Small handful of toasted almonds
Parmesan or other hard cheese

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli and remove to an ice bath after 3-4 minutes. While the broccoli is blanching, you can mince the garlic.

Fry up the diced bacon (the key is doing it on low-medium heat otherwise it smokes because bacon fat has a fairly low smoking point). Remove and let drain on a paper towel.

Add some olive oil to the same pan used for the bacon, and on low heat, saute the red pepper flakes with the garlic until fragrant, about 30 second to 1 minute. Add the broccoli (which, I hope, you remembered to drain...I didn't so I kinda added it wet and things splattered because hot oil and water aren't friends). Saute for a few more minutes but don't burn the garlic like I did.

Put it on a plate, add the bacon, add the toasted almonds, and top with some freshly grated Parmesan. Alternately you can chop the broccoli and mix it with some pasta along with the bacon, almonds and cheese (add some reserved pasta water to bring it all together).

Is it finally les printemps?

While everyone in New York has been enjoying ridiculously beautiful summer weather (or so I hear), we've been stuck with weather that's been teasingly inching up towards the 60's but then giving us rain, clouds, and occasionally hail. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I haven't really dealt with the weather the past two weeks as week 1, I didn't leave the office before 3am and week 2, not before 2am. But, thankfully since its the weekend and I only worked from my apt at night, today was a gorgeous day and it seemed all of Paris was out and about. Today I wasn't the only one wearing sunglasses for once (I wear them in the winter too in NYC, but it's because it really is bright outside!). And I got some much-needed vitamin D.

 To not completely waste the day away in my apartment, I finally went shopping. I've been craving retail therapy. I hadn't gone shopping since leaving NYC. And my three-month anniversary of arriving in Paris is on April 14th. That's three months without going into a clothing store. I used to go every weekend back home.
And since it was so nice and sunny outside, I decided it would be a perfect day for some ice cream. I'm fortunate enough to live close to both Berthillon (the most famous ice cream in Paris) and Pozzetto (a relatively new well-regarded and well-blogged-about gelato shop).

I took JP there two weeks ago. They have their traditional specialties (Gianduia, Sicilian Pistachio and Hazelnut), 3 flavors of the month, 3 fruit flavors of the month, and some other ones that I forget. I had the Flor di Latte (milk) and Yogourt Magro (yogurt) flavors and JP had coffee and strawberry. I wasn't blown away like I thought I would be, it was OK. Although the coffee was very coffe-ish (in a good way).

Today I lined up for 10 minutes to get two scoops to go. I went with the Sicilian Pistachio and pear. I like to get one creamy and one fruity flavor. I feel like they balance each other out.

Pozzetto redeemed itself (both in flavor and presentation...look how well those two go together!). The pear tasted like biting into a ripe, juicy fruit, complete with the grainy-ness you get from super ripe pears. And the Sicilian Pistachio was so concentrated and smooth...it reminded me of these Lindt chocolates they sell only at their stores which are shaped like the sicilian pistachio and filled with sicilian pistachio ganache. Anyhow, it was DELICIOUS. Although my favorite ice cream / gelato / sorbet / frozen thing is still The Bent Spoon.

Alien pastries

Creme moelleux de citron "yuzu". I didn't really know what to expect...I thought it would be more like a mousse in a glass cup. No, its a dome of silky citrusy cream glazed with an un-natural shade of green and topped with some red currants. 

Definitely a visually stunning presentation but it left me wanting something more. Kinda wish it was airier with a more complex citrus taste.

Tarte tatin

I went to a place called l'Ebouillante (which I think translates to something like boil or scald or something, but definitely something to do with teapots and hot water) for some tea and pastry! After all, it's a weekend and I can be bad. I semi-adapted the rule the "S" rule of "no snacks, sweets or seconds, except on days that start with an 'S'"...I heard it was Michael Pollan's rule but apparently he quotes it from somewhere. So essentially, it means I only eat desserts (or try to only eat desserts, hah) on weekends. It's been raining here all day and I was definitely in the mood for something warm. I would've gotten hot chocolate (I love hot chocolate when it rains) but that might've been a little too much. So I got a pot of Earl Grey tea and a tarte tatin. I wish it wasn't so rainy because I can imagine this place being fantastic when its sunny outside; it's on a cobblestoned street behind a church and its terrace opens up as do the windows on the main floor and there's a few tables outside...would be great in the summer to sit outside, drink something and have something sweet!

Mmmmmm, warm caramelized apples (lots of butter and sugar...I have mentioned I like butter and sugar, have I not?), puff pastry and creme fraiche. The Frenchies are onto something here - warm caramelized apples and a cold and tangy creme fraiche is a fantastic pairing. Definitely offsets the sweetness of the tarte tatin and I always love the play of hot and cold together.

And I figured out how to work off the calories. The elevator in my building broke, so I've had to take the stairs since Friday. Ok, fine I'm only on the 2eme etage (that's 3rd floor for us Americans since the 1st floor is really the ground floor) its not that far up, but I'm a lazy bum. And then when I had to take the stairs up I started freaking out because my key wouldn't open the door to the stairs so I had no way of getting up to my apartment! But thats ok, I was just being stupid and didn't turn the key all the way. Then I realized it and couldn't get the key out...another dumb moment. Anyhow, I actually really like my stairs, they're so old school and made out of old wood.

Yea, I dunno what those chairs are doing down there either.

No big pistachios

Look at that. Two gorgeous colors - a deep rusty orange and a bright green. It tasted so good. What is it? And no that is not a big pistachio on top (unfortunately)

I already predicted that Eric Kayser would be my downfall and I was so right. The compotes there are delicious. This one was apricot, and had several entire apricot halves in it! The tangy-ness of the apricot melds so well with the almost cloying sweetness of the crumble on to, which provides the perfect texture variation (and color contrast!). I think this is my favorite of the three they have (strawberry rhubarb is too sour but the apple one is good...just not as good as this one!) I'm not sure what the crumble on top was, but taste wise, it was a little reminiscent of almond paste. Whatever, it was yum and I scarfed it own at my desk...too bad there are people called co-workers around, else I might have ended up licking the cup :)

It's strange that I can go a whole day eating almost next to nothing, and then some days I can't stop eating! Like today. Anyhow, dinner tonight was mussels in a white wine sauce with a side of grilled endives.

Oh fine, who am I kidding. I have an electric stove that is called a "hot plate" in the instruction manual that doesn't cook jack. And definitely impossible to grill anything. So I pretty much put the endives down into tiny bit of olive oil, spinkled some salt, let them pan-fry there for 7 - 8 min, then flipped them over and did the same thing. I WANT MY CAST IRON GRIDDLE and a stove I can actually use it on.