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.

Anniversary dinner at L'Atelier

August 17th equaled 4 years. Although JP likes to say it's been only 3 years since I was in Paris all of 2010. No, it's been 4 years. So I grilled some skirt steak*. Made some corn and bacon. And an heirloom tomato salad with basil, balsamic and Arbequina olive oil. We finally opened up our Clos du Val cabernet that we got when we were in Napa a few years ago.

For dessert I had picked up some Italian plums (prunes?) at the Rockefeller farmer's market during lunch and turned them into a crumble.

It was a good dinner. But our "going-out" dinner was Saturday at L'Atelier de Joel Robouchon. 

Verdict? It was fun but the food was MEH for the most part. JP ranked it dead-last out of the four anniversary dinner's we've had. I ranked it second-to last only because I don't remember how much I liked Perry Street (the other two are Daniel at #1 and Alex at the Wynn in Vegas at #2).

We didn't get the tasting menu (I'm deathly allergic to sturgeon and have an aversion to foie gras) so we went a la carte.  A couple small plates - sauteed amadai in yuzu broth with lotus root, sauteed squid with chorizio and violet artichokes in tomato water, asparagus macaroni gratin and seared scallop with ginger and chive crust (yes, singular scallop for $28) followed by our mains. I had the hanger steak with roasted shallots and shishito peppers which failed in comparison to the hanger steak I had at craftsteak two years ago. JP had seared sea bass with a lemongrass foam and stewed baby leeks where the overwhelming flavor was lemongrass and I was reminded about those spicy cashews I have in my pantry that I need to return to TJs because I don't find them palatable.

Granted, the presentation of everything was top notch. Not all dishes fell flat. I quite liked the squid with chorizo and the crispy crust on the amadai, as well at the shallots on top of my steak. My strawberry-rhubarb-gin cocktail was stupendous and my dessert was pretty good - cheesecake mousse with Tahitian vanilla and seasonal berries.

JP's sauteed peaches with peach sorbet and meringue came on dry ice which was pretty cool.

But there was something off about the service (didn't help that obnoxious girl that sat next to me started elbowing me sometime during our dessert course). Maybe it was because I had chosen counter seating but it didn't feel like it was worth it. There, maybe that's what I mean. The food is good but overall the price just isn't worth it. I proposed that we stick to Daniel from now on since nothing else has quite measured up. We can be one of those couples that goes back every year once a year on their anniversary.

*Note: Whole Foods Chelsea - please carry non-grass fed beef. I like it better. And its not $14/lb. I think I'll be going to Whole Foods Union Square for meat from now on.

Long overdue apartment warming

We had our apartment warming a few weeks ago. For the most part I was unambitious, preferring to buy snacks from Trader Joe's (which, by the way, was a great way for me to taste some products that I've wanted to try out, specifically their Pita Puffs). I had promised to make some pao de queijo, which I did and they were, again, delicious. Von and I also attempted to make boozy watermelon using Absolut's Wild Tea vodka. Kinda didn't work out too well so I don't think I'll be revisiting that anytime soon. I also had five or six over ripe bananas which turned into banana bread using Flour Bakery's recipe (don't judge the hole in the middle...I was taste testing)...

...which I then cut up to make chocolate and pistachio-covered banana bread bites! Much more party friendly. 

But the star of the party were the watermelon jello shots. Not my idea. I saw it on thekitchn.com a few days prior and thought it was the cutest idea ever. I ran around New York trying to find powdered jello since I my usual stops (TJ's and Whole Foods) and apparently bodegas and Duane Reade don't carry it. I didn't want to go out of my way to a "regular" grocery store but I succumbed and went to Food Emporium by work. Task #1 completed.

Task #2 was juicing limes and removing all the insides which made my hands raw. I really need to buy some disposable gloves for times like that. And for chopping jalapenos. By the way, removing the insides of the limes wasn't as easy as it sounds - you have to carefully run a pairing knife between the pulp and the pith. I had some trouble because my limes were super thin-skinned. But, I prevailed.

Task #3 was choosing the right alcohol. I went with cachaca but I don't think I'd do that again. Maybe rum next time. And don't believe the 1-to-1 water-to-alcohol ratio. I'd cut down on the alcohol a bit and do 5-to-3 (ie 1.25 cups water and 0.75 cups alcohol). It'll taste better.

So after I set the halved-out lime rinds into mini-muffin tins, poured in the liquid, let it set overnight, quartered the resulting "jello cups" and sprinkled mini chocolate chips over them (don't try to shove them into the jello, it doesn't work), the result:

A little too bitter for me from the cachaca but the chocolate chips evened that out ok. Super cute, aren't they?

The nightmare that is apartment hunting in New York

If there is one thing I despise about New York, it's real estate. I hate looking for apartments. The majority of brokers are deceiving, fees are high, craigslist sucks and everything is overpriced. JP and I mainly did our own search for apartments in the luxury buildings in Chelsea (criteria: west of 3rd ave, east of 8th ave, north of Houston for the most part, and south of 32nd street). We saw newly constructed buildings with tiny apartments at astronomical prices (The Continental), buildings with amazing amenity and views but in an unsatisfactory area (Tower 31) and perfect buildings where apartments disappeared in a matter of seconds even if they were still being remodeled (Centro). A broker stood us up after I emailed him with a list of buildings we had already seen by ourselves.

We went elsewhere and got the most amazing broker I have ever worked with (not that I've worked with many) and would recommend to anyone in a second. With him we saw everything from 18th floor Union Square apartments with terraces to prime West Village (W4th and Perry anyone?) walk-ups with no laundry and slanted floors (he was testing the pre-war building waters with us on that one afterward which he realized that he shouldn't show us anything like that anymore!). There were buildings on the UWS with Dale Chihuly chandeliers in the lobby and crazy amenity fees ($5,000 per year for two people?) and buildings with multiple huge walk-in closets and 28ft+ living rooms. I spent over a week from noon to 4pm looking at apartments and as well as weekends (Saturdays AND Sundays) as needed (and it was needed). 95% of what he showed us were great apartments but they just weren't exactly what we were looking for (not bright enough because of a low floor or northern exposure or too pricey for what it is)...

And now I feel kinda douche-y (I rarely use that word) because he spent so much time and energy on us and we've decided to go with one of the apartments we found ourselves in Chelsea (granted, only silly people would go to those luxury buildings with a broker). I even called the leasing office and asked if they pay the broker fee (unfortunately no). So we said sorry it didn't work out and got him a gift card (I think he deserved it and it made me feel better). We dropped our signed lease off today at the building and will move in at the beginning of April. I will say this - if anyone is looking to move within NYC/to NYC and need a good broker, especially one who knows the Chelsea/Flatiron/Union/Greenwich Village/Nolita area well, click here. In the mean time, I have to figure out what new furniture we need and how we'll get rid of our old furniture...and here's the floor plan!

Final snapshots

My last few days in Paris in the form of pictures. Primarily food, of course. Lets start with some wine, shall we?

Assiette de fromage and wine at Le Rubis, a fantastic old low-key wine bar in the 2nd near the Tuileries

Savory chicken curry tart from Tartes Kluger in the 3rd where I brunched with MS and WD...and saw one of my Directors. Pretty well made tarts, a little overpriced but in a nice setting where you can sit and chat as long as you want at communal tables.

Tarte tatin, eclair au chocolate and a tarte fine aux pommes from Ble Sucre. The tart was amazingly light and the tarte tatin...well, see for yourself:

I don't know how the pastry chef does this but it looks like an apple! But it's actually really thin slices of caramelized apples reassembled. Amazing. And amazingly delicious.

MS brought me a chamoy apple from Texas! I'm glad she was able to sneak it past customs.

A Kouignette, or a mini kouign amann from the newly-opened Larnicol across from the Saint Paul metro. Apparently the guy is a Meuiller Ouvrier de France, a title you win at a craftsman competition held every 4 years. Basically, it's a big deal if you win one. I assume he got his for chocolate but the chocolate there, although amazing looking, wasn't all that great. What was great was the salted butter caramel pastry you see here that I devoured (apparently David Lebovitz says you should eat it warm) and the caramels which come in a ton of flavors (my favorites were the plum, coffee and speculoos ones). Also, the ability to self-serve everything helps. I have more pics but they're on my French blackberry which doesn't really work anymore and I have no idea how to put pics on my comp. If I figure it out, I will. Otherwise, meh.

Cookies I made for coworkers with the ingredients I had left over in my pantry before my move. Oatmeal raisin, white chocolate macadamia and two types of kitchen sink cookies.

The most amazing chocolate chouquettes from one of the most ordinary pastry chains in France, Paul.

 
Ah, my favorites...Pierre Herme macarons. Depayse with matcha, azuki bean, lime and ginger, and Metisse with carrot, orange and cinnamon. I have still not had the famed Istaphan flavor.

Chocolate overload at Jean-Paul Hevin including a choco passion cake with a cocoa biscuit topped with passion fruit chocolate mousse and covered in dark chocolate with bits of crunchy things throughout, and a pomme de terre which is drunk raisins and candied oranges mixed with biscuits and chocolate, and enveloped in an almond-paste shell. They were actually out of a lot of pastries so we kinda had to settle...and we also had some of their hot-chocolate tastings.

I wasn't a huge fan...it's pure cocoa (no added sugar) with various additions (matcha, which tasted like grass, and raspberry coulis featured here) that apparently you're not supposed to mix in as they are already professionally done and it would ruin the taste. Huh? Yea whatevs.

Spring after everyone leaves and the beurre au lait cru and bread that they graciously gave us for free after I kept pestering the sommelier with questions about it and saying how much I loved it and how much I will miss the buvette

Finally, some pizza from Al Taglio - margarita, amatriciana, potato and truffle cream, and jambon. Pizza is sold roman-style where they cut slices of whatever size you want (ok, there's a minimum size) off a big rectangular pizza for you. Delicious, cheap and perfect for sharing.

Catered mexican from El Nopal for my going-away dinner...yay! They even made me agua de jamica and specially-requested refried beans!!!

My Paris living room with my furniture (so cute! and no those are not pineapple grenades on my couch...)

And after I moved my furniture out and put the owner's furniture back in. My stuff was waaay better.

And, lastly, my plane...

Au revoir for good now Paris! Back to the NYC!

Au Revoir, Paris

I will call 2010 the year that went "poof!" as in "poof! there it went". At first it was dragging along, then it went by too fast during the summer and these last few months have been filled with worry and me being in limbo. But all is well now and I'm sitting here in my apartment (which isn't cute anymore...will post pictures later) with an hour before my taxi arrives with two thoughts on my mind: (a) I hope customs doesn't take the two butters away from me, one of which, the beurre cru or raw butter, the sommelier at Spring gave to us a few days ago and the other a salted butter from Pascal Beillevaire and (b) how to pack my Freebox aka internet modem and related things with no box and hoping that since they haven't charged me for internet at all this year, they won't when they get the box back.

But now it is time to go and leave Paris after a year and get back to NYC where I have friends, family and a certain boyfriend waiting for me. Everyone keeps asking if I'm sad or happy. I'm sad to leave but happy to go. It's bittersweet - I'll miss my friends here (thanks for everything kiddos!) and I'll even miss Paris a little bit but honestly, I can't wait to get myself back to NYC. And get my butt in the gym to work off all that food that I've eaten in the past two weeks. There'll be several Paris posts coming up not because I've been a lazy bum but because I've been super busy both at work (I was at work until 11pm on Wednesday!) and out and about.

In the meantime, to tide you over, here's a little list I made about Paris.

Things I will miss

- French dairy products aka yogurt and fromage blanc

- Bordier and pretty much any other butter, especially the one that they have at Spring that's not sold retail and wholesale only to restaurants

- Eric Kayser, specifically the Tolbiac baguette, the madeleines and the torte monge

- Pierre Herme macarons

Things I won't miss

- The weather that is primarily gray

- Dog poop everywhere on the street

- Lack of hygiene on multiple occassions, specifically in crowded subways and in taxis

Well there you go. Time to go get that butter and return my Freebox. Then get in a cab and get myself on the A380 (yay!) back home where I belong.

Bisous!

Favorite NYC bites while on vacation

NYC was, as always, colder than I ever expected but I suppose the constant sunshine makes up for it. Between the coldness, I stuffed myself silly with tacos, elotes, tostadas, agua de jamaica and tamarind popsicles in Mexico. And as much as I love the food down there, it's New York that's my favorite restaurant city. So here's a quick rundown of my favorite New York City bites this (last) time around.

Top bites (in no particular order):

1. Pretty much everything at Kin Shop, and specifically the steamed red snapper in green curry

2. Banana pudding from Buttercup Bake Shop which is less sweet than the Magnolia's one

3. Jalapeno cheddar pretzel from Sigmund Pretzel Shop stand at the Union Square Holiday Market

4. San Daniele prosciutto, Grana Padano and fig mostarda panini from Biba Wine Bar (this is a cheat as it's actually in Philly but I got to see my Parisian-wine-bar-during-summer partner BB!)

5. Hot apple cider from Breezy Hill Orchards in Union Square

6. Mo's dark chocolate bacon bar from Vosges Haut Chocolat

7. The (pricey) tequila and mezcal cocktails at Mayahuel  

8. Ridiculously fresh mozzarella, topped with a drizzle of olive oil at Eataly

Disappointments:

1. New menu at Dos Caminos - watery guac and a waitress that forgot 2/3 of our order

2. Brunch at Telepan - some stuff was good but overall it was meh, especially for the price

And here's some pretzel love. OMNOMNOM.

(Pre-)Chrismas in Paris

Paris doesn't seem to be overly festive during the holidays. There are some lights here and there, the big department stores have display windows but in general it seems fairly quiet. Although there was a snowstorm this month that had Paris stalled and taxi drivers sitting at home.

There are no 24/7 Christmas songs playing here. Or maybe there are and I just don't know since I don't watch TV  or listen to the radio (slingbox!). But they do have a really cute uber-touristy Christmas market located on the bottom half of the Champs-Elysees starting from Place de la Concorde.
 
It's pretty much like a regular holiday market, with vendors hawking jewelry, scarves, wood carvings and other random gift-esque things. A part of the Christmas market is divided into "countries" with each section devoted to a particular one (eg the Germany section sold bratwurst, the Belgian section sold waffles, etc.). However, it seemed that mulled wine aka vin chaud aka Glühwein aka Glögg (this is my favorite name for it) didn't have a nationality and was ubiquitous with all. Which was good because every few booths is another potential wine stop to warm you up. Bad because with so many people, good luck in trying to walk holding a hot cup of dangerously dark red steamy liquid while trying to avoid people bumping into you causing you to spill your drink all over yourself and stain your jacket. No, that did not happen to me but it almost did. Eventually we just decided to stand off to the side and drink.

The other thing that this market seemed to have a lot of was food. Aforementioned bratwurst was eaten, as well as Transilvanian Kürtőskalács (similar to Baumkuchen) which was dusted with cinnamon sugar, some chocolate covered gingerbread cookies and these things:

They're actually kinda funny-looking now that I see this picture but they were delicious. They were called chocolat mousse meringue and supposedly a specialty from Alsace (or so I think it said but I couldn't find them on Googling and might I mention I am an excellent Googler?). Basically its a small wafer disk (pretty tasteless), topped with some kind of sticky chewy ooey gooey  cross between a marshmallow and undercooked meringue, which I guess is there the mousse meringue part comes from, and enrobed in a thin layer of chocolate (by the way, there's a dessert book called Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey out which (a) looks good and (b) has an awesome title). They had them in what I thought was different flavors but it's just a different chocolate covering. Anyhow, this was the best €1 spent in a while.

You know what else I spent money on? A mini buche de noel since I've never had one before. Maybe not the best place to get it (Paul, although they do have some killer chocolate chouquettes) and not the most traditional flavor (I got the exotique with passionfruit and mango) but it did in a cinch. But it was also meh. So meh that I didn't even finish and that rarely happens with dessert.

The other thing that's pretty awesome during the holiday season here is the ridiculous lighting along the entire facade of the Galeries Lafayette's main building. The Macy's facade Christmas tree lights and even the snowflakes on Saks are weak sauce compared to this. It almost looks like cathedral windows.

The awesomeness of the lights was quickly supplanted by the un-awesomeness of the crowds around and inside the department store. People were in there like herded cattle - you could barely move in some areas! It look me a while to find what I was looking for but after I did, I didn't spend a second longer in the store and got out as fast as I could (a feat in itself).

And since it's the holidays, I once again took over an oven, this time baking chocolate chip cookies, salted fudge brownie bites and mini blackberry cornmeal cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting (that turned into mini blackberry cornmeal cupcakes when the frosting broke) and distributing to coworkers. They seemed to be either amazed that I (a) can cook or (b) that the things didn't taste awful. You decide which one. Although I totally over-baked one batch of brownies. (Note: must not be lazy and take pictures of food I make).

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a 7:30am flight to catch to New York.

Food aversions

So many people recently have said that I'm picky, well my pickiness stems mainly from my avoidance of food I used to be allergic to (although new allergies keep popping up all the time it seems, like raw and grilled eggplant most recently). Things I don't eat include:

1. Eggs. No egg dishes, and I pick out large pieces of fried egg from pad thai, but eggs in baked goods are ok, but not overly-eggy custards, but in general I like custards and flan  
2. Mayonnaise. It contains eggs. I don't like eggs. Also would rather not eat the calories associated with mayonnaise.  
3. Shellfish. I think I was deathly allergic to them when I was younger but now I just don't care for them. So no shrimp, lobster or crab for me
4. Mollusks and bivalves. I LOVE LOVE LOVE mussels. Scallops, clams, oysters and others can go elsewhere. As in not in my tummy
5. Certain kinds of fish. I am deathly allergic to sturgeon, so much so that I have an epi-pen. I once went to the hospital after eating a tiny piece of smoked sturgeon (the Russians love it). Because of this, I approach new fish I have never tried cautiously. But for the most part, I eat all other fish including arctic char, salmon, sea bream, turbot, bass, etc etc. I will not eat Chilean Sea Bass for ethical reasons. But I will eat red snapper, which I love, but only in Mexico. Yes, I am a hypocrite. What can I say.  
6. Sushi. I don't like raw fish. I am also allergic to random fish (see above). But I do like sushi restaurants. I order cucumber-avocado rolls. Rice on the outside, please. And add some sesame seeds. Thanks.  
7. Black caviar. See above, deathly allergy to sturgeon. Plus you'll thank me at the dinner table when you don't have to share your caviar. I don't eat red caviar either though.  
8. Celery. I can't stand the taste. I've tried it multiple times and I just don't like it. I can stomach celeriac though, but it's not my favorite
9. Innards + offal + sweetbreads. Tried some and its more a texture thing. That and I just don't want to. Plus I have awful memories of fried liver when I was little.  
10. Foie gras. Both ethical and taste reasons. And the point above about innards. But if you eat it I won't judge. I eat baby cows after all. Mmmm, veal...  
11. Aspic. Another popular Russian food but no thanks, I don't like meat encased in jello. Nor do I like the Russian mayo-based salads. See mayo-hating reason above.  
12. Peanut butter. Blasphemy, I know. But I didn't grow up with it and I'd rather not eat too much of it because I'm afraid I'll start liking it and I most definitely don't need those extra calories. This include Reese's.  
13. Pumpkin pie. I think not ever having a good one has prevented me from trying more. I like pumpkin (and squash in general). I like pie. Just not pumpkin pie.
14. Milk. Don't do milk. Never liked it. Once in kindergarten they tried to force me to drink my milk and I refused. I do like my cereal to be completely soaked in milk though. But I don't eat cereal too often.  
15. Nacho cheese. It's not normal. Just please, NO. Kraft Singles...that's another story. You can't have a cheeseburger without a Kraft Single. It's just not American. But then again, so is not eating peanut butter...or pumpkin pie...  
16. Blue cheese. No a fan, that's all. But I like pretty much any other kind of cheese.  
17. Oatmeal. Tastes like old people food. Not that I don't like old people.  
18. Bell peppers. Used to be allergic, but now I just don't like them. But any other pepper I will eat. Jalapenos, serranos, habaneros...  
19. Olives. Love me a good olive oil. Can't stand the taste of olives. 
20. Root beer. Reminds me of this medicine I used to have to take when I was little. Also along the same lines, salted licorice. Gross.
21. Honey. Again, allergies. Honey in stuff, sure. But not a huge fan of honey by itself or honey drizzled over something. For this I have maple syrup. But not pancake syrup. NEVER pancake syrup.
22. Coffee. Love coffee-flavored everything, dislike coffee. I find it too bitter for me. Plus not drinking it means I won't stain my teeth - that's what red wine is for.

Things I do eat that you might not:  
1. Tongue. Mmmm, giant cow tongue = deliciousness. Just don't overcook it.  
2. Beets. I am a sucker for beets in any preparation. Except in mayonnaise.  
3. Lentils. I made things with red lentils. I love lentils de puy with some pork. And at Indian restaurants I can't not order daal. Can I have some more?  
4. Beans. Any kind of beans in general.  
5. Eggplant. Yes, I am allergic to raw and grilled but braised or especially with black bean sauce, just get in my belly. Thanks.
6. Fried farmer's cheese. If you tried it, you'd like it too.  
7. Sour cream. I can eat it by the spoonful. I guess the calories I don't consume by not eating peanut butter get canceled out here...
8. Buckwheat. Poor Russian farmer food. Delicious with lots of butter.  
9. Grains and couscous. Love them. Don't cook enough of them. Freekeh, bulgur, israeli couscous, polenta, whatever. Indifferent to quinoa though.
10. Matcha. I can handle the really intense matcha. Love the bitterness of it in desserts. Also love the smokiness of Hojicha.  
11. Brussels sprouts. Hopefully you try them with bacon before you hate on these
12. Root vegetables. Rutabagas, parsnip, turnip, give me. Beets already mentioned above. Minus celeriac.  
13. Goat cheese. Preferably warm, on toast, accompanied with a salad with bacon.  
14. Jamaica. Although you'd probably like it too if you try. Plus its not really for eating so much as drinking. And please, drink it with some good dark rum.

The start of a weekend in London

Time for a long weekend. Armistice day in France = visiting AG, who I went to school with and who was my roommate for 2 years while she's in London. Equally as food-obsessed as me. She works so I had two days of entertaining myself until the weekend. I didn't really feel like going to any museums (although I did drop by the British Museum for two hours) which left only two things - shopping and eating. You can guess which one I focused more on. And so I took myself over to Covent Garden with the intention of wandering around, looking at some stores and finally finding my way over to Wahaca, a Mexican market-based restaurant. First, I'd like to mention that I'm too tall to stand against the "leaning seats" in the tube- I have to bend my head forward. It is not a comfortable position. Also, unlike at the Abbesses stop in Paris, at Covent Garden you get a warning that "there are 193 stairs, the equivalent of a 15 story building" to get to ground level so really, unless you're in fantastic shape, you best be taking the elevator. Which I wisely did. 

After wandering around, trying some things on, taking a picture in Neal's Yard (Dairy and Remedies are both there), the rain started to drizzle, as it most certainly always seems to do in London, so I started in the direction of the restaurant where I seated myself at the bar and proceeded to order an agua de Jamaica. But they're not as cool as me (hah!) so they just call it Hibiscus water. Menu held the usual suspects - tacos, taquitos, quesadillas, burritos, etc etc. But most things are served as small plates. I seemed to have missed this and when I got my pork torta with conchinita pibil, this arrived:

Tiny torta! £4.85! Good but not as good as the ladies at the back of Tehuitzingo grocery store in NYC. This was when I realized that this is glorified street food at expensive prices. Good, sure, but also overpriced. But then again, isn't everything (£4 one-way tube ride?...I got an Oyster after that). The agua de Jamaica previously ordered was downed in a few gulps and then I was convinced to get the hibiscus margarita (tequila during lunchtime, fabulous idea). Good but not great - the one with hibiscus and blueberries at Toloache in midtown Manhattan is a thousand times better.

Despite my better judgement and sensing I might still be a tad hungry, I ordered one more small plate - black bean tostadas.

Disappointment. Don't get me wrong, the flavor was there but it wasn't really a tostada but a large round tortilla chip with a teaspoon of refried beans, topped with lettuce and tomato, corn and blackbean salsa...it tasted more like I was eating chips + fresh salsa than a tostada. But I must commend them on the two accompanying salsas they serve - a chipotle salsa and a habanero salsa. The chipotle brought an earthy smokiness (perfect for the torta) and I thought it was spicier than the habanero, which kinda just numbed your mouth while the chipotle set your lips on fire. Conclusion: if this is some of the best mexican food in london, there are most definitely opportunities to be had.

On Thursday, I had two lunches. The first was an overly-greasy fish and chips of which I ate maybe about 1/3, and the second was wagamama. I couldn't come to London again and not eat there! Actually, the only other time I have been to wagamama was sophomore year in college when we based our operations management project on them.

Behold the chilli men (hah, funny name) - soba noodles (I got really excited there because I thought it was like buckwheat soba but no, tear) with mangetout (wiki says this means either snap or snow peas), spicy tomato sauce, chicken and veggies. Exactly what you need when its cold and drizzling outside so it totally hit the spot although it was actually not as tasty as I remembered. The spicy sauce was heavy on the heat and lemongrass, light on the veggies and noodles overcooked. In retrospect it may have been better to order two appetizers...oh well, can't always win can you?

I would also like to add that had I decided to live in London, my blog might be titled "eating my way though M&S" - there are so many things there that I want to eat. Its like TJs on ready-made, ready-to-eat, takeout crack. Look at these juices!

Stay tuned for more small-plate obsession in London, lots of veggies and some market tidbits. Oh, and one of the most awful services ever in the form of ridiculously long waits. Yay!

NYC = food, friends, family and fun

After flying into PHL (it was cheaper), getting picked up by mama and then taking the train up to NYC from Jersey, I somehow mustered up enough energy to put together a small spread for when JP came home (super late and so not hungry). Not enough energy to go all the way to Whole Foods in Union, but enough to go to the Grand Central Market where produce is ridiculously overpriced but I justified the $8 for 12 strawberries by not taking the train ($5) down and back up from Union. Can't really justify all the prosciutto from Murray's Cheese though...

The awesome weather the next day post-cold and dreary Paris was sunny and high 60s which called for ice cream. I sat on the little bench outside one of my favorites - L'arte del Gelato in the West Village - with a cup of zucca (pumpkin) and dolce di latte (Italian dulce de leche I guess...?) and watched the cars go down 7th Avenue. The pumpkin was surprisingly delicious and I think I'm liking pumpkin more and more now. There may have been spices in it, there may have not...but if there were, they were very subtle as there was no real hint of nutmeg or cloves or cinnamon. I'd like to think I was eating unadulterated pure pumpkin gelato. And it was fantastic. I was almost sad that I got the second flavor with it as I could've easily polished off a whole serving of just the pumpkin but the dolce di latte wasn't too bad either in that I'm-creamy-and-delicious kind of way.

 

And earlier in the day, a sloppy bao with mildly spiced curried ground meat, paired  with grated mango, cilantro and a dash of sriracha from Baoguette, although not as good as I remembered, and definitely not a Num Pang contender, totally hit the spot in a pinch (that pinch being the aftermath of picking out and buying stockings and other related legwear at Century 21...)

Eating continued at dinner where eight of us (sans JP, who had to work a lot while I was in town, tear) descended upon Donatella in Chelsea, the new pizza place with the ridiculous gold-tiled oven. No pictures but the verdict is that, even though there seem to be new non-New York slice pizzerias popping up all the time in NYC and I have yet to visit the majority of them (I've only been to Keste where the middle of the pie was super wet), Donatella was ridiculously delicious. But apparently their oven is a bottleneck (I'm using concepts I learned in school!) and handles only 3 pies at a time so instead of us each having our own (yea, we're fatties, don't hate), we shared and they were kind enough to cut each one into 8 slices rather than the regular 4. 

The deliciousness factor was as follows: Diavola with spicy salami and chili oil (this seemed to be the most popular as we probably had a total of 3-4 pies), Margherita (you can't go wrong with a classic), Donatella with stracciatella and arugula, Capellacio with roasted and marinated mushrooms and then finally, the one I was not a huge fan of, the Enzo, with sausage and broccoli rabe (I love sausage and broccoli rabe pasta but this was just not very good...maybe they should've crumbled the sausage or maybe broccoli rabe doesn't belong on a pizza I don't know but I'd pass on this one next time). We also split some desserts (2 desserts for 4 people) and since we are all such great friends, both sides of the table inadvertently picked the same 2 desserts to share - the zeppoli which were surprisingly light and the sfogliatella where I found the ricotta cream too heavy for my liking.

And speaking of liking pumpkin more and more, at next day's lunch at Maialino with JL, we split an order of the pumpkin agnolotti which were amazingly melt-in-your-mouth tender delicious little packages of pumpkin goodness. The serving size is ridiculously small (12 pieces to an order? And they're not that big) but I could've easily kept eating and eating and eating them. Suckling pig terrine, which was breaded and deep fried, didn't do it for me because of its lack of seasoning but I didn't care since the agnolotti made up for any errors in judgement.  

And in other pumpkin news, what's Halloween without some jack-o-lanterns? So off I went to the pumpkin patch with mama + the little brother (no clue who ppl in background are)...
 

Finally, for JP's and my combined birthday dinners down in Jersey with my family including my mama, grandparents and my brother (who tends to act like a little brat at times, although I love him still) we went to Rat's Restaurant (unfortunately named, I know) at the Grounds for Sculpture. Why? Because the chef there won the last season of Top Chef and because its a 15 minute drive from mama's house in Jersey. I will add that taking my grandparents to a nice restaurant is always such a disaster because my grandfather's diet consists primarily of pelmeni, or Russian raviolis, and he thinks everything else is garbage, while my grandmother is just awkward at restaurants and will only eat filet mignon and is dealthy afraid of choking on fish bones. Le sigh, but what can you do?

Overall, the meal was a little underwhelming - I was expecting better. My tomato salad appetizer was meh with no hint of the promised serrano chile, my brother's smoked salmon was just that and nothing special (although I'm super proud of him for eating half of it, and for finishing most of his mussels since he's a super picky and measly eater who munches on broccoli and celery, as well as sour cream and onion potato chips for fun) and JP's scallops crudo looked pretty but disappointed.

The mains were much better. I actually liked my duck breast, which was clazed with black mustard and soy and came with a pear puree, haricots verts and beets. Thankfully, the licorice-fennel marmelade on JP's super moist grilled pork chop wasn't overbearing and the dried fruit cous cous that came with it was israeli cous cous (he doesn't eat regular cous cous). And my brother liked his mussels, like I said, and liked the fries even more so.

Desserts again nothing special. I remember the creme brulee being much better and the parsnip cheesecake, while cool-sounding, barely registered a hint of parsnip. The caramel ice cream we had was pretty decent but it was presented on little pastry shells that was been pre-frozen onto the plate and were hard to eat. On top of that, they messed up and put the "Happy Birthday" on the wrong dessert, not to mention the awful service all night.

Bottled water instead of tap as requested, the waiter trying to leave before we had finished our drink orders (during which he thought "hard apple cider" sounded like "sidecar") and failure to actually explain what was on the tasting menu. But I guess that's what (unfortunately) happens when gratuity is automatically included, although I thought they'd be more professional.

The rest of the time was spent sorting my brother's Halloween candy. And eating it.

JP - sorry you're not accounted for in the title of the post, but "BF" does not go with the whole "F" theme. Also, I carved the cuter pumpkin, again.