Post Work Friday: Amy's Bread

I was pretty well worn out today after a long week of work. Early mornings and late nights made the week feel like one mighty slow blur. Sometimes I got the feeling I was moving in slow motion, going through all the mandatory steps but not processing much information. Nonetheless, Friday could not have come soon enough, and the fifteen minutes approaching my departure from the client site were perhaps the fifteen most exciting minutes of today, hehe.

Cake for allllll tastebuds: red velvet, carrot, devil's food, black & white, german chocolate...there's more!

I wanted to eat something good. But I did not want a full proper meal, as desserts and bread were all I craved. And I wanted to eat alone. I wanted to wallow in my own wallowy-ness and write in my journal and call my mom. So I did what any 21 year old in her right mind would do and headed for Amy's Bread in the Chelsea Market. I've already professed my affection for this Market in my last post, for such a visit is akin to disappearing into a warm cave filled with deliciousness pouring out of every corner, every turn.

What's in this case? Lemon bars, cinnamon challah knots, brownies, biscuits, and cupcakes!

I walked into Amy's Bread not knowing what exactly what I wanted. The thing with bakeries is that I never quite know what I want until I see everything. And even if I come arrive with a general desire, my mind could easily be swayed by the sight of a fresh loaf of bread emerging from the kitchen, the delirious scent of warm chocolate brownies or even a suggestive hint from the lady behind the counter.

Today it was the Pecan-Apple Cake that called out like a siren. There were only two pieces left, and I made one mine. It was a luscious decision, perhaps the best choice I've made all week, both in terms of life and food! An incredibly moist wedge, tender cuts of apples tightly packed between pecan-laced, cinnamon-spiked batter, baked till the skin was crusty but the innards, near custardy! How can flour + sugar + fruit + butter + nuts amount to such bliss? Gah, I do not know, but I was very, very happy. If it was this fantastic at the end of the day, near closing, I can't begin to imagine how swoon-worthy it would be straight out of the oven!

Extremely content with the cake and with curiosity still looming in mind, I went back up to the counter and purchased a Chocolate Sourdough Twist. True to its name, the slightly tangy tie harboured chunks of dark chocolate for a most welcoming combination of chocolate and bread. However, I've never had great success with the twists at Amy. While the flavour is excellent, it's the texture that leaves me wanting. Though final product itself is far from tough, the twists are always too chewy and leave my jaw exhausted.

...Maybe I just need stronger jaws. Maybe...

The other day I had the Black Olive Twist, which fared better than the Chocolate Sourdough, with savoury bits of chopped Amfissa and Atalanti olives laced within the dough. Many other people seemed to be enamoured with these twists (in flavours such as Parmesan Cheese, Rosemary, Prosciutto & Black Pepper, and Seeded), but as far as my experience goes, they are simply ordinary and nothing more.

From the outside window of Amy's Bread...fruits, cheese, a fresh loaf...a baker's post-shift dinner?

But let's end on a high note for the evening, because that's how all evenings should end. Just remember the Pecan-Apple Cake and the cozy comfort of the Chelsea Market, and we shall sleep well tonight!

Amy's Bread
Chelsea Market
75 9th Ave
NY, NY 10011
(212) 452-4338

One More Day of Indulgence Never Hurt!

I ate too much this weekend.
Thursday = Thanksgiving Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Friday = Lunch at Spotted Pig, Dinner at Blue Ribbon...with donuts as an afternoon snack...and dessert at Pinisi...followed by Thanksgiving dinner leftovers as a midnight snack
Saturday = Lunch at Tiny's, the whole damn cookie at Levain, Dinner at Taim, ice cream at cookies at home
Sunday = Lunch at Yoghurt Place, coffee at tea at Grounded, Fat Witch brownies, Dinner at Tiny's, ice cream, dark chocolate covered pretzels, and ice cream for dessert...

Oooooofffff
(looks down at tummy)
I can still see my toes!
thank god :)

I'm super excited to put up the Thanksgiving weekend posts, but I'm going do the posts backwards, starting from today (Sunday). All our guests with the exception of Steph left on Saturday, so today was reserved for Shann, Steph, and Kathy bonding! It's great having a large group of friends visit for the holiday, but it does get extremely hectic and somewhat nerve-wracking at times.

I'm more of a small group type of girl, it's less crazy and noisy and you have more opportunities to catch-up on missed time with close friends. Which is why today was a good day. It was a very good day in fact, one of the best I've had in a while :)

We started off the late morning with a snack on Sullivan Street. Shann and Steph enjoyed slices of the pizza zucchini over at Grandaisy while I went next door to Yoghurt Place in search of something cooold, sweet and creamy.

I'm a sucker for greek yogurt, and have a unbashful longstanding affair with Fage yogurt products. But after a taste from the Yoghurt Place this morning, I feel like a complete idiot. I've been missing out! For the last three years I've been eating Fage, regarding it as the gold standard for greek yogurt. But how wrong I've been! Oh dear...

Look here. It's quite pretty you see? But the visual satisfaction is only a bare skim, a brief tease as to how delicious this is. Okay, so think like normal yogurt...only with thick, thick, thick. LIKE THICK to the point of whipped butter! Pure white in colour, the texture of the yogurt bears uncanny resemblance to whipped butter and nothing else. Tangy, with a lovely mouthfeel, rich and just barely sweet. It's deceivingly filling. I choose to have the yoghurt topped with stewed apricots in honey, a dash of sliced almonds and a bit of granola. A swirl of the spoon to bring it all in together, and sheeessshhh, this treat is like drug. The silky smooth cream cut by the crunch of granola and a nutty sliver of almond, an anticipated bite into sweet honey soaked apricots. What better way to start your Sunday?

Looking down at the Met lobby

Satisfied, we walked back along Spring Street to catch the train up to the Met, per Steph's request. Ahhh. Museums. I'm not a big museum person, hehe. My only interest in going to the Met was to check out all the dining options. So that's what I did. It was not very impressive, but then again what did you expect? Nonetheless, all the dining venues in the museum turned over a remarkably high amount of traffic. Crazies. They could have been eating greek yoghurt!

We didn't stay too long at the Met. Funny how I can manage to spend two hours exploring a supermarket, but my attention span can't exceed more than 20 minutes at the museum. Teehee. We hung outside for a bit, the day was bright and had grown considerably warmer from just a few hours before. I love sunny days - we get a ton of sunlight in Hawaii, so it's a real damper when the day falls dark before 6pm in this city. This guy standing next to us at the museum entrance was pretty insistent on offering to take a picture...so here we are! Haha, from left to right: myself, Shann and Steph.

Post-Met, we went down to the West Village for some drinks at Shann's favourite coffee shop in the city, Grounded. Steph went for the mint limeade, while Shann had a ridiculously fantastic hazelnut and caramel coffee. Gah, it was so good, I kept asking her for a sip, and must have ended up drinking nearly half of it! :)

For myself I ordered a green citrus gingko tea, which was just alrighty. Could have been sweetened just a tad with honey, but otherwise strong on the gingko (a plus!), none of that citrusy business I was expecting though...

I liked the vibe in this coffee shop. The city is filled with countless cafes covering every and all tastes, but it's hard to find one that suits you well. It's like finding the perfect hat, or in my case, the perfect bag. But yes, Grounded is good. It's quite the cozy place, but not difficult to find a seat. The people are nice (and they serve Murray's bagels - toasted!), it's warm inside, and even a skylight and lots of plants! It's best expressed in one word: comfy.

from the inside of Ronnybrook Farm's Milk Bar

From Grounded we made a short walk to the Chelsea Market to do some exploring and pick up a few brownies from Fat Witch. The Market was extremely lively around 4pm this Sunday afternoon, it's a delightful place to spend the day and there's definitely something to satisfy any food craving whether it be Thai food, gelato, coffee, pastries, or a velvety serving of clam chowder in a bread bowl.

One of my favourite things to do on a weekend afternoon is sit at Ronnybrook Dairy's milk bar and treat myself to a (large) glass of indulgence with the ginger crème brulee milkshake. If the name alone hasn't already sold you, a frothy rich taste surely will. True to the ginger flavour and just enough sweetness to satiate but not overkill, this creamy thick concoction surprises with bits of candied ginger laced within sips. It's the perfect place to take a break alone, or join a friend for lunch (I'll be back for the mac & cheese and cast iron egg dishes!) Low key and simple fare, you feel good knowing that all the dairy involved in these items come from a local farm!

We made our way around each all the shops in the market, there's always so much to look at..and sigh, I could never bore of watching the bakers in the windows of Amy's Bread! At exactly 4pm, the three of us hopped over to Fat Witch for some triple brownie action, hehe. Fat Witch does not have the best brownies in the city, much less the country, as some have proclaimed. Far from it. These are simply decent and consistent brownies. Nothing I would pay the regular price of $2.75 for, but when I happen to be around during the 'witching hour' special, I'd gladly trade off $1.25 for a square.

Three squares in fact! Hehe, no I am not a glutton. We each got a square of our own and shared them all. Clockwise from the left is the walnut brownie, peanut butter brownie, and caramel brownie. I liked the walnut the most, just cause: 1. who doesn't love walnuts in brownies?! 2. the nuts cut the sweetness of the batter. Shann proclaimed the peanut butter brownie at Baked to be much better, because they swirled actual peanut butter throughout the batter while Fat Witch simply mixed in peanut butter chips.

Here's a closer look at my caramel brownie. Very ordinary, no? It's the plain brownie batter topped with a layer of baked caramel. Too sweet. I like me sweets less sweet, or even better, with a touch of salt. Like fleur de sel caramels! Or Thai desserts! The olive oil gelato at Otto's! Something along that line :) But the sweetness in this brownie was simply one-dimensional.

Brownie crumbs in our lap and tummies just a little bit poofier, we checked the clocked and were bummed to discover that it was nearly 5pm. Seeing as she had already missed the 12:30, 2:30, and 4:30 bus to Cornell (Shann and I were very convincing getting her to stay, "just an hour more!") Steph had to make the 6:30 bus leaving from Penn Station...but not without dinner!

We took the subway back to the LES where we had a quick dinner at Tiny's, my go-to spot for sandwiches, reliable and always very satisfying. Exiting the F train at Delancey, Steph and Shann went to grab at seat at the restaurant while I made a mad dash to Economy Candy for a stash of gigantic dark chocolate dipped pretzels, my sweet-salty addiction of the moment.

These pretzels are crazy delicious. Everything about them is prefect. The pretzel to chocolate proportion is spot on - you know those tiny chocolate covered pretzels? There's always too much chocolate and not enough pretzel. These also have a lot of chocolate, but the pretzel itself is nice and big, so it balances out well. Plus, it's DARK chocolate, so holy hell, you bet it's good! It's hard to restrain yourself at Economy Candy, but you must enter into this treasure trove of sweets and chocolate with a goal in mind and stay focused. Otherwise you'll end up with a ton of treats you never intended to purchase. Which is bad...or good...depends how you view it!

Over at Tiny's Shann ordered a cream soda, of which I had a sip (I seem to be having many sips of Shann's drinks today, hehe). I've never had cream soda before, but I supposed the name explains it all. Cream. Soda. It tastes like fizzy sweet cream! It really does. Like, it tastes like liquid cream, only lighter, with fizzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh boy. That was an awful description!

She also had a crabcake on brioche. Tiny's doesn't bake their own bread, but the brioche here serves as an excellent sandwich bread. Pair it with a seared crabcake perfectly tucked between the buns, a dabble of aioli, and you've got yourself quite the (mini) sandwich!

Steph went with the Cesar salad and a bowl of the vegetable chili soup. Thumbs up for the chilli soup, so comforting for this windy day! It's nice and chunky, generous with the veggies and a crusty semolina roll on the side.

I had the veggie meatballs with pesto on a semolina roll. The first time I had the veggie meatballs (a few months back), it was completely unseasoned. It must have been a fluke (whew!) cause it was pretty darn good today, especially with a healthy smear of pesto tucked between the toasted roll. A great bargain at $3.75. And it comes with chips!

Okey doke. Off to sleep now. Sigh. The weekend is over. Back to real life tomorrow. Hope you have a great Monday! :)

Yoghurt Place
71 Sullivan St
NY, NY 10012
(212) 219-3500

Grounded
28 Jane St
NY, NY 10014
(212) 647-0943

Ronnybrook Farm Dairy
75 9th Avenue
NY, NY 10011
(212) 741-6455

Fat Witch
75 9th Avenue
NY, NY 10011
(212) 807-1335

Economy Candy
108 Rivington St
NY, NY 10002
(800) 352-4544

Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop
129 Rivington St
NY, NY 10002
(212) 982-1690

Thanksgving: Stuffed!

Hope you all had a super duper delicious Thanksgiving! :)

Taken sometime between Thanksgiving dinner and dessert! From left to right: Justin, Jess, Shann, myself, Kelly, Steph, and Marie. (Photo by Marie)

Shann and I are hosting five of our friends over this Thanksgiving weekend. Marie and Kelly got in from Wellesley on Tuesday night, Justin from Yale and Steph from Cornell on Wednesday morning...and Jess finallytrucked in from Harvard late Wednesday evening. How we managed to fit everyone in our tiny LES spot is beyond amazing, but we're just thankful that it all worked out nicely. Whew!

We did quite a bit of eating/munching/shopping in the last few days, but I'll save that for the next post and dive head on into The Day of The Dinner.

11am: Shann wakes up first, "OMG, THE TURKEY NEEDS TO GO IN THE OVEN IN EXACTLY AN HOUR!!!"

Everyone wakes up, grumbles, mumbles. I hear mutterings from Kelly and Jess, "ooh, the lamb thingy from Kebab House was sooo good last night." "NyQil? DayQil?" "beeehh, need to showeeeer." Apparently, they didn't return from their 'evening adventures' till the wee hours of the morning...

11:30am: Steph, Shann and Justin get to work on the turkey. Everyone else brushes their teeth, gets dressed.

12pm: Kelly and I set off to Pinisi to pick up pies!!! Yah, we LOVE PIES! :) This was Kelly's very first visit to Pinisi, so we hung out there a bit, chatting with Andy and his wife. Man, they must be exhausted! They didn't leave till past near midnight yesterday and got back to bakery at 3am this morning to start baking pies. Now that's what you call dedication.

Hehe, she looks ready for a bite!

While waiting for our pies to be wrapped up, Kelly and I sat at the counter and shared a slice of Pinisi's signature red velvet cake. I've written about this cake a few times here :) Hehe, we completely neglected to consider how much food was going to be eaten throughout the day while consuming this cake!

Andy's wife packed our pies with great care, a smile on her face the whole time. That's a pecan pie hiding in the bottom box, and pumpkin on top. You know what is the most fun about bakery visits? Watching the baker tie the boxes with white (blue & white, in this case!) string, quickly manuvering back and forth till the boxes are secured together, a fast whip of the hand, the bow is formed, viola!

Awwww, pumpkin pie, so delish! The filling is your ordinary pumpkin pie, but they always gets the crust just magnificent, crisp all the way through, I've never encountered a soggy bottom at Pinisi

...And here's the pecan pie! =) We heated this up in the oven and topped the individual slices with vanilla ice cream.

Right before leaving the bakery, Andy insisted on throwing in a few extra treats for us. He's such a great guy and fantastic baker! Since he knows anything that ends in 'pudding' is my favourite dessert, he packed in a little cup of pumpkin crème brulee...
...two trays of challah-brioche bread pudding! Can you say beautiful? :)

It was surprisingly warm out today, so Kelly and I took the crème brulee to a bench (saving the bread pudding for post dinner! :) outside and dug in with great enthusiasm. It's more akin to pudding than a classic crème brulee, much softer than the norm. Aside from lacking a proper crisp caramelized crust, the spiced pumpkin flavour is right on spot, and it's quite the decadent treat. As Robyn would say, "Nom, nom!"

I love carrying pie boxes! You know how some things, some objects, can make you very happy? Some people like journals, cameras, phones...well, I like boxes. Pie boxes!

3pm: Kelly and I arrived back at the apartment, tummies contently filled with cake and crème brulee. We walked through the doors to find Steph, Shann and Marie hard at work. The kitchen/whole apartment (it's tiny!) smelled AWESOME. All three of them were leaning over the oven, basting the turkey. A fresh batch of cornbread cooled on the table, alongside with butternut squash (waiting its' turn in the oven), boiled potatoes (to be turned into garlic mashed potatoes!), and a loaf of pumpkin cranberry bread from Erica.

Steph & Justin peeking in on the turkey

Kelly and I felt an immediate pang of guilt...eheheh, for going off to eat dessert when we only planned to, ahem, pick up dessert. Teehee. We tend to get distracted when there's food nearby!

3:30pm: Justin and Jess returned from their we-should-buy-some-beer-and-wine excursion with a big, HEAVY white box filled with...

...knishes!!! They purchased it from Yonah Schimmel on their walk back from Whole Foods. Sometimes I forget just how convenient this city is. Whole Foods is a 5 minute walk, Russ & Daughter and Katz is 2 minutes...it is as if the whole world is RIGHT HERE. At the fingahhhtips!! :) I dunno how I can ever live anywhere else. For now...

But yes, the KNISHES!!! We'll start off with the tastiest of the trio - a jalapeño & mozzarella combo. I've only had a knish once, like four years ago, so I'm practically a knish virgin. But this was a good knish, a very good one in fact! A packed mountain of mashed potatoes topped with jalapeños and mozzarella, wrapped in dough and baked. It is soooo heavy. Each one (and they don't look that big) must weigh at least a pound. It also feels heavy in your stomach. But man, it was nice going down! Potatoes are especially comforting, and when baked with jalapeños and moooozarellla, it becomes the ultimate winter/holiday snack. Yay, snackies!!!

Knish: Cut

Yes, we shared. I think we would have suffered major brick-stomach issues if we ate one per person!

We made our way though a red cabbage knish, a lovely creature really, the innards were a soft blue shade...you just wanted to poke it! So soft! And warm! Oh yeah, did I tell you they warmed them all up for us? :)

The sweet potato knish, the only sweet, and perhaps my least favourite of the bunch. Texture-wise it just got boring too quickly. Muooush. Muoosh. Like maybe if they had mini knishes, a five-bite sized kind. That would be better. Theses were major monsters.

And the last of the quartet, a mushroom stuffed knish.

Jess was our honorary knish-cutter, she did an excellent job! *hooray!* So. Knishes were a pre-thanksgiving snack.

We lovalovalova our kinishes, yes? We ate a lot of starch today.

Shann pours a cup of green tea

Aside from cooking, there was little actual 'work' we did today. We did a lot of catching up over cups of tea (brought over from Japan by Marie :) - it's everyone's senior year in college (except for me, haha, I was in such a rush to graduate early!), so this will probably be our last 'official' thanksgiving for a while. The majority of us plan to move back west upon graduation, some to San Francisco, others to Hawaii. We've been close friends since middle school (kindergarten for some), so there will be plenty to miss :)

Steph and her cuppa tea

Steph and I lounged out on the fire escape, it was incredibly warm today - hard to believe this is late November weather!

Here's a shot of Rivington Street from our seat on the escape. This street is normally busy in the afternoons, but it was dead quiet today. Everyone must be huddled in over their stoves!

Turkey coming out! Photo by Marie

Sometime after knish-ing and before the sun going down, the turkey came out of the oven. Steph was girl-in-charge-of-turkey, and she did a real awesome job butter-ing up the baby with thyme & oregano butter (Shann & Justin also helped!) and roasting it with plenty of onions and lemons. Mmm! We basted every 30 minutes, and set off the smoke detector about a million times...which resulted in major towel waving to cool down the room (thank you Kelly & Shann)!

Marie was the pro-turkey carver of the group, having plenty of experience from our last four years in college!

And Steph was the pro-turkey-dark-meat-plate holder! Have you ever seen anyone look so excited over a plate of turkey?! She musta been huuungry!

Here's Kelly during dinner - she must have been even more hungry, my goodness! hehe ;)

Meanwhile, Steph was busy browning garlic for the GARLIC MASHED POTATOES. This is my favourite photo of the day! A big bowl of semi-mashed potatoes, a whole garlic bulb, pepper, cream and, as Kelly said, "lots and lots of looove." Ahhh love indeed. What are mashed potatoes with no love?

Midway though dinner someone said, "I feel like we forgot something..."
Someone else said, "Really? hmmm..."
Another person, "I don't think so..."
Yet another, "oh. okay..."


Cinnamon & Nutmeg Cranberry Sauce (our very first time using fresh cranberries :)

We ate seconds and thirds, generous helpings of rice, warm gravy (made by Justin) spooned over with giddy abandon, some chased after dark meat, others white, all topped by a cinnamon and nutmeg spiked cranberry sauce.

Justin heated up apple cider from Red Jacket Orchards. He also found some real nice strawberry apple cider from Stone Ridge Orchard, which I though was even better (more intensely straaawwwberrry-er than the Red Jacket version).

...And then, 15 minutes later...all of a sudden, "WHERE'S THE SALAD?!"
bwahahahaha.
We all broke into peals of laughter.
Everything.
We remembered everything starchy, meaty, fatty, sugary.
But we forgot to make the one, the ONLY, semi-healthy dish.
STRAWBERRY SPINACH SALAD.
Oh well.
We laughed some more, and ate even more rice + turkey + gravy.
It was delicious.

Oh god. We ate too much today. As usual. I forgot take photos of most of the finish dishes, hehe, but I will tell you what we had!
- turkey
- baked yams
- roasted butternut squash
- stuffing (stovetop nonetheless! :)
- we were supposed to have a salad...but hehe, we forgot!
- cornbread
- garlic mashed potatoes
- cranberry sauce
- a really rich gravy
- plenty of rice!
- pecan pie
- pumpkin pie
- bread pudding
- vanilla ice cream
- pumpkin beer! (I didn't pay attention to the wines...)
- apple cider & strawberry-apple cider

Oooffff. Okay.
Time to digest.

Smooosh, smooosh
(pats stomach)

Have a good night! :)

Yonah Schimmel Knishery
137 East Houston Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 477-2858

Pinisi Cafe & Bakery
128 East 4th St
NY, NY 10003
(212) 614-9079

Russ & Daughters: Chocolate Babka

As varied as my eating habits may be, there are few select food items that I oft return to over and over again. The chicken curry funn at BoKy, Pinisi's red velvet cake, the cubano at El Castillo de Jagua, and the pizza bianca from Sullivan St Bakery. None of them share much in common aside from the fact that they're priced under $5, and they make me happy. Very happy.

But! I've found something else to add to this list. A baked good, nonetheless! A chocolately, sweet baked good. THE CHOCOLATE BABKA - the siren of all morning treats. It's sold by the (generous) slice for $3.50 at Russ & Daughters. You could opt to get a whole loaf, but knowing me, I'd polish off it all off in one seating. And then get a heart attack. I'm admittedly terrible when it comes to self-control with baked goods. Heehee...we all have our vices! Oh god, but this is incredible, melted dark chocolate brushed upon layers of rich buttery dough with just a hint of cinnamon. The lightest lace of streusel tops it off for a truly gorgeous treat. Shades of brown, dark chocolate, soft cinnamony innards, and a slight crust that becomes all the more addictive when you pop the slice in the toaster over for just a bit. Too sweet? Perhaps. Overly decadent? Never.

P.S.
To balance out the sweet treat, I like to chase my Chocolate Babka with a smoked salmon cream cheese bagel also from Russ & Daughters. And then if you want more dessert afterwards, a chocolate covered halvah bar never hurt, and while you're at it, don't forget to pick up a square of prune & raisin BAGEL pudding! How can there be so much deliciousness in such a tiny place? Why, we'll never know!

Russ & Daughters
179 East Houston St.
NY, NY 10002
(212) 475-4880

Robyn's Super Belated and Super Delicious Birthday Dinner!

Robyn's birthday dinner at Momomfuku Ssam acutally took place way back in mid-October, but sigh, you know how time fliiiieeees. One week turns into another, and before you know it, you're ten pounds heavier, and it's mid-November! Going back in time, Robyn invited a lucky bunch of us out for some major bo ssam action on Saturday evening. Some people like to spend Saturday evenings getting drunk and dancing. We like to EAT. EAT PORK.

photo by Robyn

Here are the eaters...post eating. From left to right: John, Robyn, myself, Tina, Charlie, Amy, Carol, Patricia, Alex, and Bert. Don't we all just look so happy and deliciously full? ;)

About two hours before this photo was taken, we were all snuggled away inside the restaurant, hungry appetites made even hungrier by the sight of all the food around us. Momofuku was already packed by 6pm that evening, and the crowds would only begin to grow throughout the night. A good number of diners took to standing around the 'communal' tables in the back, sharing dining and standing space with strangers. People are really desperate to eat here!

We decided to order a wide assortment of small dishes to share in addition to the bo ssam (thank you Robyn! :) First up was the Santa Barabara uni with whipped tofu, tapioca, and scallions. Oh god, this was very, very good. A base of airy whipped tofu, hidden balls of tapioca pearls, uni (I LOVE UNI) to bring in the briny-ness of the sea and creamy rich mouthfeel. Each component collapsed together so perfectly, both in terms of texture and flavour. To top it all of, furikake! Ahhh. Just seeing the furikake instantly reminded me of home and spam musubis!

I$8 for bread and butter alone was severely overpriced, given that the bread was good, but far from amaaazing. Butter I like. But then again, I'm a sucker for good butter. No wonder I'm so fat! bwahahaha. Fancy butter you know? Two varieties: sea salt butter from Vermont and from England, St. Helen’s Farm goat butter. I wasn't sure how the refill on bread business worked. I was told afterwards that we could get more bread at no charge...but out waiter never offered it to us! Gah. Oh well. Less calories invested on bread means more allocated to PORK!

The Satur Farms Fried Cauliflower was insane! Holy cow, I've never had cauliflower in such a form of deliciousness! I'm used to stir-fried and roasted cauliflower...but this was in another league of its' own. The cauliflower itself was thoughtfully cut into appropriate bite size pieces (unlike the huge chunks you typically find in dishes), fried to a crispy golden, laced with a childhood memory inducing nuoc nam, mint, garlic, chili and a sprinkle of what Robyn appropriately calls, "something like rice krispes." It's true! I dunno what else to relate it too...like the rainbow puff rice cereal we get back home in Hawaii...only not sweet, and not rainbow. Just extra airy and crunchy! :)

Oooh, the Tello's Chawan Mushi made me sooo happy! I love, love, love fish roe of any sort, this particular one was smoked trout roe, intensely bacon-y in flavor. Chawan mushi was a silky smooth gem, I could imagine recreating a ghetto version of this at home, steaming my own chawan mushi and then topping it off with ikura. A surprising touch was a dabble of maple syrup...not sure if I took to that as well, the chawan mushi and trout roe alone was so good, why put an unnecessary twist?

But my favourite of all the small dishes were the grilled sweetbreads. Um. AMAZING!! I love sweetbread almost as much as I love bread pudding (which is A LOT OF LOVE). And when the exterior is lovingly grilled with a subtle smoky char, and the innards just melt like fat, meaty butter. Like AMAZINGNESS. They go down quite nicely. Then again, fat always goes down quite nicely!

I didn't get a good taste of the roasted mushroom salad, cause the portion was so tiny, and well, I ate more than my share of sweetbreads, hehe ;) Nonetheless, I can at least tell you whaat it was! A base of pistahchio puree topped with roasted mushrooms, radishes, and crosnes. What are crosnes? Robyn likens their physical appearance to maggots, Tina to insect larvae...I think they look like cheap pearls, but that's just me.

After polishing off the small plates, our waiter came by to clean the table, and make room for the BO SSAM. A bowl packed with bibb lettuce, four sauces: kochujang, scallion & ginger puree, kimchee puree, and just a good ol' bowl of kimchee (hard to go wrong there!). The lettuce. WAS SO GOOD. I enjoy my veggies as much as the next guy, but this lettuce. Man. I just wanted to shove it in my face, plain, it was so simple, so clean, so fresh, SO GOOD. Of the four sauces, I was most friendly with the scallion & ginger puree, just cause it was 'different' from the other sauces I'm used to eating. They also gave small dishes of maldon sea salt and bowls of rice to go around. Mmmm RICE!

And oysters! Oh I love my oysters, the oceany brinyness, slippery, cold, the smooth chilly texture going down your throat. Yessssum. But I never though to pair oysters, pork, rice and lettuce together! Did you? Well you should have, cause it's crazy. Here's how it works: bibb lettuce + rice + sauce of choice + oyster + pork, pork pork (preferably WITH skin!) = dinner!

Oh My Goodness, look at the Bo Ssam!!!!! Meatiness!! Porky!! Glory! The best part is the crisp, charred, fatty skin. IT BEG TO BE EATEN. It was just asking for it. Skin is my favourite part of any animal. And the liver. Yeah. I like skin and liver. Don't get me wrong, I like the meaty part too! Oh hell, I like the whole animal, down to the hoofs. We tore through the pork at an alarming speed, there was really no doubt that it would get finished...CAUSE, who'd be silly enough to leave pork. Sitting alone. Uneaten.

Post-porking, Robyn whipped out mini pyramids of hazelnut chocolates from her recently trip to Italy. Dangerously delicious! I ate three before telling myself, it'd be good to show some restraint in life...

...and also cause we had dessert in mind! Remember: NO MEAL IS COMPLETE WITHOUT SOMETHING SWEET! We walked over to L'Arte Del Gelato in the West Village, the most awesomest gelateria in the city as far as I'm concerned (though Otto is a close second!)

After much indecision, I opted for a mint and strawberry combo. They always give a little bonus tasting of a third flavour, which happened to be yogurt that evening. Funny thing is, I always end up liking the 'bonus' flavour more than the ones I've chosen. Why? Maybe it's a psychological thing. Like. YOU ONLY GET ONE BITE OF THIS FLAVOR. So you milk its' essence for all it's worth. I dunno. There are a lot of things I don't know. But I did enjoy the strawberry, a bit more mellow and less intensely flavoured than I expected, it paired well with the mint, soooo clean and refreshing! Maybe one day I'll get an extra large cup with a bazillion flavours and call it dinner! :)

Super thanks to Robyn for organizing the dinner and treating us to the bo ssam! =)

Click here for Robyn's dinner post...
...and here for Tina's!
Haha, you can read THREE posts on the same dinner!

Momofuku Ssäm Bar
207 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003

L’Arte del Gelato
75 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10011

My Kind of Morning: Grandaisy & Taim

Look! It's fall :) Now that I've moved away from the island of eternal summer, I'm quite excited to experience all four seasons!

The other morning, I had a warm slice of pizza zucchini from Grandaisy Bakery on Sullivan Street. Shredded zucchini and a light hand of gruyere cheese on the thinnest of crusts - it's hard to imagine that something so simple and basic, could be this delicious! (and beautiful!) Of course, the hallmark of this bakery is the pizza bianca, the one item you must, must, must get if you happen to pop in right when it comes out of the oven.

It was such a nice day that I wandered around Soho and West Village for a while, going nowhere in particular, but enjoying the quiet morning very much (I've learned to better appreciate the freedom of weekends after starting work, hehe). I came across my favourite falafel place in the city, Taim, and purchased a date-banana-lime smoothie. I sat on the empty bench outside and sipped away, the creamy, date-speckled drink going down smooth, the lime was so light as to nearly be missed, but there was no arguing that this was a darn good, honest smoothie. Naturally sweet, perhaps a bit too icy, but straightforward, yet unique. I doubt there's many places in this city that blend dates into their smoothies! :)

That's it for this post - hope you're all having a good week!

Grandaisy Bakery
73 Sullivan Street
NY, NY 10012
(212) 334-9435

Taim Falafel & Smoothie Bar
222 Waverly Place
NY, NY 10014
(212) 691-1287

One Very Fatty & Delicious Hour: Fruit Tarts, Apple-Pumpkin Galette, Chicken Curry Puffs and Corn Croquettes at Pinisi...Followed by Dash Dogs!

I called Shann after I got off work today,
"Am in Grand Central, wanna meet somewhere to eat something?"
"Okay! What?"
"Urm, gelato, Chinese food, cake or pie. Or Cornbread. I really want cornbread"
"Erm, okay. Anything but cornbread."
"Bah. hmmmmm"
"hmmmmm"
"hm?"
"hmmmm"
"Okay then, let's eat cake at Pinisi for dinner!"
And so we did.

I arrived at Pinisi 15 minutes before Shann and hung out with the owners, Andy and his wife, who have quickly become our close friends. There's nothing quite like walking into a bakery, being welcomed by name, having treats set aside for you, knowing that it's all delicious, and feeling right at home. It's like home in Hawaii, only in New York! ;)

But tonight was extra special. Cause Andy had a plan in mind! It was Shann's birthday last week, but she was out of town in Boston, so we never had a proper chance to celebrate with cake at Pinisi. But Andy had a solution (he always does! :). He pulled a dazzling fruit tart out of the dessert case, and set off to the back of the kitchen...And then came back out right when Shann walked in the bakery...and SURPRISE!!! Happy Birthday Shann!

Here's Shann, Andy and his wife! :)

Isn't this just darling?! The fact that it was uber-delicious also helped! Instead of a normal custard filling, this particular fruit tart was home to fresh blueberry creme, topped with more blueberries, strawberries, kiwis, AND raspberries! I love this place! What other bakery owners remembers your apartment-mate's birthday and surprises them without you even asking?!

What other bakery owner are curious to learn of you Thanksgiving plans, how your parents are doing, what'd you eat for lunch, and how was your long and boring commute to work this morning?

And of course, even though we always enter Pinisi with the intention of sharing one slice of something...that erm, NEVER HAPPENS. And I knew it would not happen again this time the instant I spotted the APPLE-PUMPKIN GALETTE!!!!

Omigoodness, was my first thought! I've been craving pumpkin desserts like a crazy madwoman for the last few weeks. PUMPKIN seems to be the only thing I think about all day. I wake up in the morning and warm pumpkin bread is the first thing I want to eat. My tummy grumbles near lunchtime, and I just want pumpkin mascarpone ravioli. And at night, I crave pumpkin pudding, gelato, creme brulee, PUMPKIN BREAD PUDDING (oh dear god, how awesome that would be!), pumpkin pie, pumpkin this and that. I am going innnnsane. SO. Yes. Apple-Pumpkin Galette had my written allll over it. So we had a slice. And it was just like you would imagine. Outrageous, sliced apples piled high with layers of pumpkin custard weaved throughout. It's the best of both worlds, a spiced apple pie, creamy pumpkin custard pie, all wrapped together in a flaky, sugar glazed crust. And Baked. And Eaten. Nonono, more like devoured with gusto!

And then, with tart and galette in tummies, Shann and I were on a roll. We couldn't stop. Not quite yet! ;) Alan's wife just rolled out a new line of savoury deep fried goodies. These croquettes and deep fried pouches of curry stuffed breads are frequently found in Hawaii, but much less often in New York. Whyyyyy? I do not know, but I wish it was not so :(

We first savoured the curry chicken puff, a fist sized poof of soft dough filled with a creamy chicken curry, panko dusted, and fried, fried, fried till dark brown, crisp and gorgeous. The curry could use to be more aggressively seasoned, but other than that, there's nothing I can complain about! :)

The corn croquette featured a blend of corn kernels, onions and mashed potatoes, mixed flattened out, then fried. I love fried food. Hehe. It's terrible really, but sooo delicious. Whoever thought that dunking food in vats of hot oil would increase its magical tastiness by ten bazillion???! A crisp shell and creamy innards spotted with sweet corn. You bite and it's like crunchy, soft, crunchy, soft, you get the idea...AWESOME. I preferred the croquette more, while Shann liked the curry puff better - each to his/her own I supposed, but either way, you're bound to be happy!

After our parade or sweet and savoury deliciousness, we patted our bellies full, reconfirmed our Thanksgiving pie orders, and said thank you & good-bye to Andy and his wife and walked out the door. We leave with the same expression we always happen to find on our faces after a visit to Pinisi's: one of utter content :)

We walked down 1st Ave, past 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Sreet. And somewhere, sometime before hitting Houston the same thought occurred out-loud to Shann and I:
"Wanna eat something salty?!"
"Whoa, I was going to say the same thing!"
"Cool!"
Haha. We live and eat together so frequently that one can often think exactly what the other is thinking. And crave the same thing the other craves. At the same moment. Creeeeepy!
"I want fries!"
"Yeah! Me too! Pomme Frites?!"
"oooh, salty, hot!"
"I want something super salty and super hot!"
"Oooh HOT DOG!"
"Oh man. Yeah! Hooooot dogs!"
"I haven't had one in a long time!"
"I haven't had one since Chicago!"

And so we ended up at Dash Dogs, just blocks from our dear little apartment on Rivington. We craved something hot, preferably savoury. This Cilantro-Garlic baby satisfied our cravings just so, with a healthy serving of garlic aioli and cilantro salsa. The bun rubbery and near tough dog alone were mediocre (pathetic really, considering hot dogs are the only item they sell!), but throw on fatty delicious toppings, and that just really hit the spot!

Pinisi Cafe & Bakery
128 East 4th St
NY, NY 10003
(212) 614-9079

Dash Dogs
127 Rivington St
NY, NY 10002
(212) 254-8885

Harrison Bake Shop

As of last week, and until the middle of December, I'll be working in Harrison, NY everyday. EVERYDAY. I had it really good with my first client in midtown: gorgeous office, well-stocked kitchen pantry (every cereal you could dream of, rice pudding, at least five varieties of ice cream bars, H&H Bagels and muffins from Buttercup Bake Shop on Fridays), and to top it off, lunch was provided everyday!

But now I go to Harrison, NY via a long ride on the Metro North. Where is Harrison? It's up high. Right past the Bronx. It is suburbia. A nice suburbia, but it's always somewhat of a shock getting off the train…to be surrounded by houses and so many trees, an abundance of cars and not a taxi in sight. This client does not feed us lunch. Which I'd be totally dandy with (because really, having lunch provided is a bonus, not staple). But the thing is, THERE'S NOTHING TO EAT IN HARRISON! Chain restaurants, a Food Emporium, one bagel shop, one Chinese takeout, one pizza place...

...and thank god, one BAKERY! I walked into Harrison Bake Shop my first day on the client, no expectations and ready to be disappointed. But now I'm super happy to report back that arriving with low expectations was a silly thing to do, I'll definitely be coming back here!

My eyes scanned over the vast selection of pastries, bread, and cookies, and stopped at the row of muffins. I loooove muffins. It's a good excuse eat cake for breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert/snack/midnight meal. So I picked a cinnamon sugar topped pumpkin muffin. It was just the right size to hold in the palm of your hand. A size that would satisfy for breakfast, but allow room for plenty of mid-meals before lunch.

The muffin itself? My favourite part was the exterior top, lightly crusty and completely snowed with the crumbly cinnamon-sugar streusel. A tender crumb, which could be moister, especially because it was a pumpkin muffin and I like my pumpkin muffins extraaaa moist! Not pumpkin-ny enough in flavour, but that always seems to be an issue with me. I always find myself wishing gingerbread things were more gingerbread-y and pumpkin goods more pumpkin-y. Nonetheless, it's nice to know that even while I'm locked far away upstate and far from the culinary wonderland of the city, I can count on getting a good muffin!

Harrison Bake Shop
357 Halstead Ave.
Harrison, NY 10528
(914) 835-1151

El Castillo De Jagua

I am a bazillion posts behind, but need to stop and tell you about this sandwich over at El Castillo De Jagua. Shann and I just came back from dinner and we're still floating in a cloud of blissful tastebuds - a direct result of the cubano sandwich.

I've had many an awful cubano in my life, a few good ones, but none that floored me on the spot like this baby. The pressed French roll positively melted, like melted into our mouths with every bite, the crusty top and bottom hugging layers of roast pork, ham, cheese, mustard, pickles and just enough mayo to win you over. We both took a bite at the same time and didn't say anything. And then we took another. And another. And all of a sudden, sounds of "Oooo. Mmmm. Mmmm!" Pause. "Oh my god, this is really good! This is like REALLY good." Pause. Munch, munch, munch. "Holy hell, this is incredible! This is insane!" And indeed it was, deliciously fatty slices of pork, so tenderly roasted, truly savoury and fall apart tender. Every component of the sandwich plays an integral role, from the refreshing crunch of pickles to mustard smears and two slices of ham neatly tucked between pork and melting cheese. Never mind that I wasn't even hungry, I ate so fast that I finished before Shann, which never happens! I didn't even stop to breath between bites, lest the sandwich cool down. It was awesome. Did I mention it's only $4?

Also worth noting is the chicken soup Shann ordered, comforting and well seasoned with plenty of noodles, carrots and chicken, bone and all. Perfect for this cold weather.

But it's really the cubano you should be after!

El Castillo De Jagua
113 Rivington St
NY, NY 10002
(212) 982-6412

Friday Night Dinner

It was a long week for both Shann and I. We came home Friday night, tired from the past five days and settled in for a cozy dinner of curry udon, sheltered from the steady drizzle of evening rain. Shann made a big pot of the beef, potato, and onion curry earlier this week and it lasted both of us quite a few meals. Some nights you want to go out and have fun, fun, fun. But this particular Friday called for a quiet night in.

True to her role as the most wonderful apartment-mate and friend a girl could ask for, Shann had a post-dinner surprise in store: dessert from Jacques Torres! We shared the pumpkin tart, really more of a mini pumpkin pie than a tart, but adorable nonetheless with its buttery pastry base and a delicately spiced pumpkin filling. Nothing extraordinary, though very satisfying.

The pie was followed by one of my most favourite cookies to date, the all familiar mudslide cookie, a deadly rich concoction of chocolate, walnuts, barely a bit of flour but enough butter to make you swoon with bliss and sugar to run you straight into a delicious coma. I can only imagine how divine this would be straight out of the oven on a snowy day.

Jacques Torres
350 Hudson at King Street
NY, NY 10014
(212) 414-2462

$1.25 + $.70 = Chinatown

While this amazing city offers culinary delights like no other, most come at a cost and the other day I was feeling quite poor after realizing that taxes wipe out my income. I'm not kidding. Like ALL of it. But I still wanted some good food. And I didn't feel like cooking. So I walked to Chinatown with Shann, the one part of Manhattan where you always leave feeling like you've scored a bargain.

We stopped at this vendor on Canal Street, home of $1.25 noodles and lots of other cheap, hot and greasy food.

Spring rolls, fried chicken, fried rice, fish balls on sticks, lo mein and mei fun!

We took our noodles to Tai Pan Bakery just block away and sat one of the metal tables in the back of the bakery. I always feel bad sitting at their tables when I don't buy anything from the bakery...but we've yet to be kicked out, hehe! That's Shann's mein you see above. I never cease to be amazed by the sheer amount of noodles they manage to stuff in such a tiny container.

I couldn't decide between the mein or fun...so I got both! They don't charge extra or anything, so that's super cool :) The best of both worlds! In the end I liked the mei fun better cause it was substantially less greasy and had bits of scrambled eggs, onions AND tons of peas, which I really love. I LOVE PEAS!! (Yes, even the frozen ones, heehee). The mein was also very enjoyable, thick and chewy, nicely salted with cabbage and carrots...though I felt somewhat disgusted when I saw the pool of oil swimming at the bottom...If you like your noodles spicy, make sure to ask for hot sauce, which the cart guy will liberally squirt over the noodles before smashing your box shut.

The noodles left us happy but feeling like our tummies harboured a vat of grease. So we headed up to Orange Tea House on Mott Street for a warm cup of nai cha.

Mmmm, check out the bakery options! It takes a strong will to resist the siren calls of cheap and delicious Asian pastries...

...but we had our heads on straight and objectives in mind that day! $.70 buys a cup of black tea with a splash of milk and just enough sugar to taste. We parked out okoles on the counter seats and watched the fall Manhattan day pass by, via Chinatown.

Orange Tea House
79 Mott St.
NY, NY 10013
(212) 732-7178

Four Words (and then some) on Build a Green Bakery

I love stopping by both the West and East Village locations of this bakery to satisfy night time muffin cravings. Because: service is always friendly, they're open late, baked goods never fail to satisfy (except for one unexpected instance, see below), there's seating in the West Village location...and I'm a sucker for the 'green bakery' concept. But don't start equating 'green' with 'healthy'. Cause these baked goods are anything but! They do, however, use excellent ingredients that make you feel better about eating cookies, muffins, cakes, and pies all day long. And with choices like blueberry corn muffins, agave nectar cakes, and polar bear claws, surely you must be somewhat curious? My takes on four items I've recently eaten.

1. "Disaster" = the vegan blueberry scone. This was a major letdown. The first sign of danger came when I attempted to break off a corner. IT WOULD NOT BREAK. It just WOULD NOT. BREAK. The scone was hard beyond brick. It was condensed STONE. Shann had to hold a side of the scone down while I gave another attempt to pry off a corner. I pulled and pulled. And finally it broke. The middle innards of the scone were more tender, but it was not the moist with a decent crumb kind of tender. It was more akin to a rubber ball! Horrors! I didn't know what the heck I was eating. A part of me thought to chuck it out because it was so bad. But the Chinese in me was like "what?! No way, finish it!" And the Chinese side won. (The Chinese side usually wins). There was not much going on flavorwise. Only positive comment I can muster was that it wasn't too sweet. Which is important. But aside from the occasional blueberry, the scone tasted nothing but 'chewy'. It actually tasted like the word CHEWY. If you can imagine what CHEWY tastes like.

Long story, short: No more vegan blueberry scones for me.

2. 'Awesome' in regards to the apple miso muffin Shann purchased the other night. A proportionally satisfying serving of apples tucked into a hearty 'muffin', though suspiciously lacking in any noticeable miso flavour...perhaps they didn't want to lay it on too hard? Never before encountered an apple + miso combo, but if they're going to do it, may as well add enough miso for a memorable zip!

3. "Yes" to the soynut, blueberry & cranberry muffin! Throw in an additional thumbs up cause they marked down muffin prices to just $1 in the evenings! A very dense and nutty muffin, well packed with crunchy soynuts to boot, and just enough blueberries and cranberries to leave you yearning for a tad bit more, hehe. This is quite a hearty creation with large tender crumbs, it would make do for a light lunch.

4. 'Thank You' to the sweet lady who gave Shann and I free double chocolate chip cookies the other night! It's just a mini version of their standard double chocolate chip, super buttery, with a true chocolatey crunch. It's hard not to love :)

Build a Green Bakery
175 7th Ave
NY, NY 10014
(646) 722-6570

Also at:
223 1st Avenue
New York, NY 10003

Weeknight Dinners With Friends Are Good For Knocking You Back Into Life!

I know it's too soon to think about this, really, because I only started work two months ago. But still. I can't help it. What if I quit now and did something super exciting instead?! Something that doesn't involve numbers and excel spreadsheets. Something that centers around people, food, discovery, travel and many delicious moments! I've been thinking about how easy it would be to remain content at this job. Content in a state where not everything is how you want it to be, but then again, there's no good reason to leave. Go to work everyday, do the job well, and go home, and repeat over and over again.

But what if...

What if you LOVED your job?

How awesome would that be?!

I mean, I guess, only a lucky/determined/blessed few ever have the opportunity to make a living doing what they love. Can you imagine how incredibly happy everyone would be if they loved their work? Like they woke up in the morning and thought to themselves, 'yeah man, I LOVE work!' Haha. Just thoughts.
-----------

I've been kind of lost this week. Oh no. Not like lost lost, but like mind wandering here and there and everywhere but where it should be. I went running the last two nights (after wiping out the gallon sized jar of buttery shortbread cookies Shann's mom mailed over, thank you Mrs. Miwa! :). I've been going to sleep late, waking up early. And then coming back at night wondering what the hell happened to the day.

So I was really happy to meet up with Robyn, Diana, and John for dinner tonight. We arranged for a 7pm dinner, but I got there late (even after leaving work early!) cause my new client's faaaar away in Harrison, NY. The means that I take the subway up to Bryant Park every morning, walk two avenues over to Grand Central and then catch the Metro North for about another 45 minutes before making it to suburbia New York. Can you imagine doing this in the snow? Haha.

So on the way to dinner I was all tired and really didn't feel like doing anything, but sitting (possibly with a slice of red velvet in hand) and hohumming over blahblah. I got off at Canal Street and walked over to New Malaysia. Still tired. And then I opened the restaurant door and saw the best sight in the world. Three happy, smiling faces in a warm room, and a pot of tea on the table. And suddenly, I could not have felt better. Isn't that strange how friends can do that to you? Even before a single word is uttered from their mouth?

So I sat down, and knew that this would be a good dinner.

We shared two orders of the roti canai, of which New Malaysia executes a very reliable version. A flaky round of dough, grilled till its' got some nice dark spots, but never burned. Greasy, but it's all in the beauty of the dish! Tear and dunk into the rich curry…and then split the little piece of fork tender chicken sitting in the center of every bowl. Eating half an order is just enough, and eating the entire order your own will leave you too full for a proper entrée. I recall consuming this same dish a few times over during my freshman year of college. And it tastes exactly the same today.

John lifts to spoon to show you curry noodle soup innards!

My curry beef noodle soup - I asked for my favourite type of noodle, hoo funn (the flat, wide white ones), and I finished the bowl quite quickly. I'm usually a slow eater, but I downed this baby, quickly slurping up the curry coated noodles till there was only a bowl of curry left. Oh I wished I had a nice baguette to dunk in the remainder of the soup...how satisfying that would be!

Diana had a dish I've never seen before, but oddly enough tasted strangely familiar to me once I took a sip of the milky coloured broth. It's noted on the menu as '"Fillet of Fish with Watercress Soup." I think my grandma used to prepare me a version of this dish, only instead of fish, she used pork.

John remarked that his "Seafood Tom Yum Mee Hoon," didn't really taste much like tom yum when he first started eating...but towards the end, it started tasting like tom yum! We realized that all the tom yum-ness was at the bottom of the bowl, and that we should have given it a good mix before starting on the noodles. He finished it all, so we will take it as a good sign! :)

Robyn had the ultimate comfort food dish of curry beef and rice. I saw it arrive at the table and I just wanted to steal it, run home to a living room with dark burgundy walls, a fire place, big rocking chair, cashmere blankets, Amelie playing on the television, Buddy running around like the crazy doggie he is...and that dish of curry rice in hand. That should suffice. Teehee.

After dinner, we walked down to Bayard where Robyn and John both got Chinatown Ice Cream Factory while Diana and I popped into next door Moon House for an order of Red Bean Paste Shortcake.

A photo of the shortcakes are supposed to be here. But I was dumb and accidently deleted the pictures and then cleaned out the recycled bin. So just try to imagine two round orbs of hot super flaky pastry covered in black and white sesame seeds. Imagine steam coming out when you bite in, the red bean paste oozing out like molten magic!

*Edit: Or click HERE to see Robyn's photo of the shortcakes! :)

Tadah! I actually intended to order red bean pancakes...though somehow ended up with this instead. But it turned out to be a good thing, as I was rather delighted to bite into an extremely flaky (and super hot!) pastry stuffed with smooth mashed red beans, which simply screamed of Chinese comfort food :) It was so cold tonight, so this was perfect for the weather!

We all walked together to Grand St where Robyn, Diana and John caught the subway, while I walked a little further back home. For some reason, I just didn't feel like going back to the apartment. Not just yet. So instead, I went around the corner to Cake Shop with full intention of getting the peanut butter cookie Robyn and Diana seem positively giddy over. But I got distracted. I was distracted by a crazy assortment of cakes, cupcakes, scones, muffins, biscotti - all of them vegan! I tried to stay focused on the peanut butter cookie. Really, I tried (I promise, Diana! :)...but in the end the slice of pecan pie stole my heart...especially when the girl offered to warm it up.

So now I am sitting at the table nearest the door of Cake Shop, writing this post and eating pie. Cake Shop is packed with people on this very random Wednesday night. They play music I'm not used to listening, but that's good. Because I could use some change now. I am halfway through this slice of warm gooey pecan cake, the filling loose like a warm custard, perhaps a tad too sweet, but the cozy comfort and crunch of hot pecans is intoxicating. And plus, it's vegan...so that must count for something? Haha. Right. In my mind.

New Malaysia
46-48 Bowery
NY, NY 10013
(212) 964-0284

Moon House
67 Bayard St
NY, NY 10013
(212) 766-9399

Cake Shop
152 Ludlow St
NY, NY 10002
(212) 253-0036

Weak...

...I fell once again into the evil clutches of Sugar Sweet Sunshine's pudding cups. This time, I went for the pumpkin pudding (in place of my usual love, the banana pudding). I went even after boldly proclaiming, not just once, but twice...that I would never again pay for pudding I could easily make at home. And yet I did. *Whimpers.* I did, even though they jacked up the price $.50. So now a cup of pudding = $4.

Oh, but it is sooo delicious. The sweet eggnog pudding, ripples of whipped cream, and chunks of soft pumpkin cake folded in with generous abandon. It sends me into a terrible sugar high coupled with a toothache, but I return again and again. Glutton for punishment? Perhaps. There are some things in life which I just have no control over. Good food. Excellent desserts. Croissants. Madelines. Cute guys. Anything ending with the word "pudding."

Sigh. It seems...some promises I just cannot keep! ;)

Woorijip, Treats Truck, and Best of All...A Macaron From Robyn!

Today I was chatting with Robyn online when I should have been working. But what's work without chat? Hehe. We were talking about food. As usual. We were talking about Korean food, because I was suffering from an sudden Korean plate lunch craving. It occurred to me on the subway ride this morning that it has been THREE MONTHS since I've had a proper Korean plate lunch. Oh, how I've taken places like Palama Market and Yummy's back home in Hawaii for granted! Sigh, you never know a good thing till you lose it.

So to make things better and satisfy such demanding cravings, we met up for a quick lunch at Woorijip on 32nd St. It was my first time here, and I was so overjoyed with the options (and low prices!) when I walked in. Why, it almost felt like Hawaii for a (very brief) second! A Korean buffet by the pound, cases along the wall filled with a variety of kim bap, chap chae, kimchee fried rice, eggs, and Spam (if that doesn't scream Hawaii, I don't know what does!), tofu stews, and oh man, just so much stuff all over the place. Even pumpkin dduk!! The options were so overwhelming that I finally decided on the Veggie Plate ($5) after seeing Robyn's Pork version ($5.50) - this way we could sample a bit of everything.

We took out boxes up to the register to pay, and then to the back of the shop to sit and eat. It's exactly like my favourite Korean plate lunch place back home!!! Only. They don't have bibim kook soo...but I'll try go find that elsewhere :) This is a great bargain for $5. Generous portions of brown rice, a tofu and carrot stuffed mandoo, veggie pancake, eggplant and tofu fried in a mildy spicy sauce. But just because it's veggie don't go thinking it's healthy. This was slightly greasy and will pack you up nice and perhaps a little more full than you'd like. But it's deeply satisfying, this combination of everything I miss from Hawaii.

Take note of the long roll on the front left of Robyn's lunch. It looks like sushi yeah? Or some kind of roll with rice? Deep fried? Well guess what?! It's CRAZY. Okay. So you know chap chae. It's a DEEP FRIED CHAP CHAE ROLL!!!! Bwhahaha. I took a bite, it was greasy, but I liked it! It's seriously just chap chae rolled up in nori and then deep fried...Ahhhh I love creative minds!

On the way back to the office, I conveniently walked passed the Treats Truck, prominently parked on the corner of 38th Street and 5th Avenue. There was a decent sized crowd of well dressed businessmen and women surrounding the truck, dollars bills in hand and eager expressions on their faces. It really was a strange sight. After hearing so much about Treats Truck via blogs, I figured I could satisfy my curiosity now or...later. But why do something later when you can do it now? ;) So I hopped into line, and before I even look at the options, the guy in front me turned right around and started gushing about how good everything was! Crispy squares, cookies, brownies...it seemed as if they could do no wrong.

A quick discussion with the owner about brownie choices, and I happily opted for the Mexican Chocolate Brownie ($3) - always good to try something new!

I took the brownie back to the office and dug in...Oh wait! I forgot to tell you! I got a good window seat in the office today! Check out the view, hehe :)

Okay, sorry. Back to the brownie. It sucked. It's extremely dense and fudgey with a milk chocolate chip studded surface. Sickly sweet, somewhat plastic-ky in texture (with odd chewy bits, like paper) and not chocolately enough. What I did like was the faint dash of cinnamon, a slight whiff, a taste in every bite. There is no flaky shattering crust a la Betty Crocker mixes, but you will find a thicker, crunchy chocolate shell posing as a rock hard shield to the fudgey innards. This ranks low on the list of brownies to love, but I'm glad I gave it a try...cause curiosity really does kill Kathy!

But!

But this post will not end on a negative food note. Because there was a saving grace. And we will call that saving grace 'Robyn'.

Or more specifically, Robyn's Macarons! =)

Robyn baked macarons this weekend, and was kind enough to bring me one during lunch today. Isn't she an awesome friend? :) This macaron more than made up for the horrible brownie. A plain macaron with more crunch than chew, filled with dark chocolate ganache - and yes, she was very generous with the smooth ganache, always a plus in my books!! And because we all know how scary/intimidating this whole macaron-making business is: *Hooray to Robyn for successful results!*

And thus, we end on a very happy note!

Woorijip
12 W 32nd St
NY, NY 10001
(212) 244-1115

Treats Truck
Location Varies...
today it was on 38th St & 5th Ave

It's Sunday Again!

Tonight, or rather, this entire Sunday was the strangest day of the week. I came home near 6am the night/morning before, fell asleep exhausted and didn't wake up till 3pm Sunday afternoon...at least I got 9 hours of sleep - more than any other night this week :) I woke up, mildly guilty because I had let the whole day go to waste. So I decided to organize my life by eating better! I went to Whole Foods to buy eggs and hummus, walked back to the apartment to drop it off, took a super brief (5 minute!) nap, when Shann walked in the door, having just returned from her weekend in Boston.

The two of us walked to Chinatown together and then parted ways - Shann to pick up dinner for herself, while I did some grocery shopping for the week. I never have a plan or list of what I need to buy when I go grocery shopping, because I never know what I want till I see all the options. This doesn't exactly result in the most time efficient shopping, but it's surely a million times more enjoyable as I wander the streets exploring everything I can and imagining what I could whip up out of this and that. I eventually walked back home with eggplant, bok choy, blocks of fried tofu, and humongo jar of nuoc nam, fresh tofu fa, and grass jelly. Success? I think so! :)

It was only 5:30 by the time I got back to the apartment, but already the sky was soooo dark. It's somewhat both depressing and nice at the same time. I unpacked my purchase and sat on my rocking chair like an old lady, contemplating what I should and/or needed to do before starting off the new work week tomorrow. I scanned my mental agenda and stopped at "Buy that book from Strand." So off I went again, down six flights of stairs and off to Strand in hopes my finding this book I've been wanting to read for awhile.

Service Included. I scored it for half off the retail price, which came out to $13. Most of the times I prefer borrowing books from the library, but when it comes to food related book, I'd rather have my own copy. For keeps. So I can read it over and over again, scribble, make notes, make it my own, it's a wonderful feeling.

While I was at Strand, I spent quite a large chunk of time flipping through Dolce Italiano by Gina DePlama of Babbo. From the little I've seen so far, it appears to be an amazing book. I wanted to buy it so badly, but after all the money I've spent this weekend, I'll probably wait a week before getting it...cause, like, you know, it's all about smoothing expenses. Erm. Accounting term. Back to the cookbook. All the recipes left me salivating in the bookstore and my tummy started growling not out of hunger, but lust for her pastries. I stopped at a page where Gina attests to the fact that 'gelato is a state of mind'. She described her experience with gelato in such great detail that the only thing stopping me from running off to Italy in that instant was my credit card limit. And the fact that I'm expected at work tomorrow morning. So I did the next best thing. I paid for my copy of Service Included and dashed off in the chilly evening to my favourite gelato spot in the city: L'Arte Del Gelato.

I've come to this West Village gem six or so times in the past month. Prices start at $4.28 for a small cup, which is not exactly a bargain (wonton mein at Bo Ky is only $3.50), but I come back so frequently because the gelato is nothing but awesome. I haven't been lucky enough to visit to Italy and experience the real thing, but of the gelato I've had in the past, L'Arte Del Gelato reigns supreme. The shop was doing decent business on this Sunday evening. I sat at the high table near the register, my cup of pumpkin and mascarpone in hand. The pale pink dabble at the top is a sample of their cinnamon gelato. Oh yes, that's another plus for this place - they always throw in a little extra 'taste' of a different flavour with each cup. Now isn't that thoughtful?! The cinnamon turned out to be my favourite flavour of the three, richly spiced and simply screaming of pure unadulterated cinnamon flavour, I could have easily gone through a pint of this! However, pumpkin was also quite fantastic, a smooth and decadently creamy creation evoking all that I love of fall flavours.

This gelato shop is operated by a wonderful and incredibly sweet man, Sal, who've I seen working at the register every single time I've visited. When the flow of customers slowed down, he took at seat at one of the high stools next to me and we got to talking about food, and gelato and hot chocolate. It was so interesting to learn about his experience and history with gelato, how he creates his flavours, and most of all, his passion for his job. I'm always fascinated and inspired when I meet people who are not simply good at what they do, but love, love, love their job. I mean, you spend so much time at work, I suppose it only makes sense to do what you love. But then again, such things are easier said than done, and most people seem to be just merely content with their jobs and nothing more. Beh. I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen to me. I stayed at the shop for a bit more, just because our conversation was so enjoyable...and well, it seems to help that all humans are happier when surrounded by gelato!

Leaving the shop with knitted mittens on my hands and a smile on my face I walked to the West 4th station to catch the subway back home. The F trains runs once every million years on Sunday nights, so I leaned against one of those green columns in the station, whipped out my new book and started to read. And I read and read and read. And was so engrossed that I didn't even notice when the train arrived and LEFT! I was standing RIGHT THERE and I didn't even know! It wasn't until I realized that the station was oddly silent that I turned up and realized that I was the ONLY SOUL LEFT STANDING. I don't think people get any dumber than that, haha! How I managed to miss the train when I was standing right in front of it is beyond me...but somehow, I managed to do it.

So I made sure to be alert for the next train, which arrived half an hour later. And then I did something really dumb again. I took out the book. I looked up at the B'way-Lafayette stop, and then at the 2nd Ave stop...but then the book got too good...and I MISSED MY STOP!!! Oh man. I was so angry with myself! I suppose this is a testament to how engrossing the novel is! (I'm far from done, but am enjoying it very much so far :). Well I was mad, but at the same time thought it was quite funny. I don't know, I was really out of it today. I didn't want to wait for another train so got off at the East B'way stop and decide to walk home. I was sooo lost. This particular stop gets off near Manhattan's other Chinatown. This Chinatown I know very well by day, when the sky is bright and all the vendors are out. But at night it seemed rather sinister, especially with this creepy guy following me around for a few blocks.

Luckily I spotted the green sandwich guy underneath the Manhattan Bridge! I had no idea he stayed open this late! (It was past 9pm). Thank god for him, cause once I spotted him, I got a better orientation of where I was and which direction I should be walking to get back home quickest.

But of course I didn't pass without treating myself to one of his 'sandwiches'. I was debating between the pork or mustard green version, and finally decided on the mustard green...cause I ate way too much meat (and food in general) yesterday, hehe. (Will soon post on yesterday's adventures!) Did I mention what a good deal this sandwich is? Only $1!

I tucked the sandwich into my bag and didn't eat it until I got home. Why? Cause I wanted to stick in the oven until the sesame spotted bun regained warm crispness. Oh man, it was pretty darn delicious, a hot crusty bun and soft innards hugging piles of crunchy mustard greens. This would be a very ideal breakfast! I poured on a bit of shoyu just to taste, but it's perfectly fine left alone.

The walk back home from the subway stop was surely the most interesting walk I've taken in a long time. It was pretty late in the evening as far as Chinatown is concerned, and the streets felt so dark, damp and cold. The only restaurants that remained opened are the ones that you always hear about but never visit. You know, the ones where the menus are written all in Chinese and no one speaks a drop of English? Well these restaurants were packed to the brim with gaggles of families and group of friends enjoying bowls of noodles, and dipping their spoons in huge casserole pots with steam coming out the top. What was in the dish, I do not know, as I only got as far as peeking though the front door. It felt like a whole nother world. I spotted a Fu Zhow senior association meeting taking place. People snacking from the vendor selling fried fish balls and various meats on a stick. Shops closing up for the evening, dinner parties just getting started.

And then on a darker part of the street it grew very calm, so I kept on walking, quicker, because it was cold and I wanted to get home as soon as possible. And then I noticed a bright white lighting shining out of a door a few feet away on my right. So I slowed my steps and peeked into the door.

I saw this. And I stood there for a good ten minutes, completely mesmerized, watching a group of three men roll out soft white dough over and over again till it got very, very thin. I don't think I blinked my eyes at all during those ten minutes, just watching the process being repeated over and over again near 10pm. It was strangely like a mirage, this huge brightly lit white room, while just a step away was the cold dark night. What street I was walking on, I don't recall, but it was all an interesting experience nonetheless.

Soon I found myself on Grand Street and then everything started to look familiar, if disappointingly so. And this is why I love this city, because when I wake up every morning I never quite know how my night will end, who I will meet that day and what I'll end up doing or eating. Life here is full of surprises, both good and bad (but thankfully, they've been mostly good!)

Hope you had an awesome weekend! :)

L'Arte Del Gelato
75 7th Ave
NY, NY 10014
(212) 924-0803

Fuzhou Good Taste Grocery
75 East Broadway
NY, NY 10002

It Was Inevitable...

...that Shann and I found ourselves at the entrance of Pinisi Bakery once again, lured in the by the muffins and danishes daring us through the front window, and the smiling faces of the owner/baker, Andy and his sweet wife. This time around, we planned to play it reasonable, and split a slice of Red Velvet. Two whole uncut Red Velvet cakes sat behind the glass counter, would we be the lucky ones to get the first slice?

The answer is 'no'. But that's only because we found something even more enticing. A Red Velvet cake with a cloud light layer of raspberry mousse sandwiched in-between! And instead of the usual cream cheese frosting (of which he does an excellent version), we encountered a layer of shaved milk chocolate dancing on the top surface of pale pink mousse and white chocolate shavings on the side - surely they must be angel wings! Cakes, and moments like this, are the little things that make my life so happy!

We were about to applaud ourselves for intense self-control, cause we SHARED a slice...when Andy called out names, "Kathy, Shannon, I want you to try this!" And the lo and behold, a slice of pumpkin cheesecake made its' way into our joyous hands, and soon afterwards straight to our mouths. It's fall, and that means I'm going to do nothing but eat pumpkin, butternut squash and ginger desserts till I can do no more. This cheesecake is the perfect kick-off to the season, an absurdly light cheesecake, richly spiced and never too sweet. But Andy gives it extra ooomph with a layer of pumpkin mousse (though it tastes more like a pudding to me!) and then a final layer of chocolate mousse! It's decadent, but the wonderful (or is it scary?) part is that I never seem to leave Pinisi with a horrible sugar high, or feeling like I'm super stuffed. Why is that? This man knows what he's making. And what he makes is classic American desserts, but with a hand so light as to never leave you overwhelmed nor with bricks of butter and pounds of sugar in the pit of your stomach. But he never skimps on flavour or quality, oh no. And service. This is hands down the friendliest bakery on the planet. And that's why I keep coming back :)

Pinisi: 1st Visit
Pinisi: 2nd Visit

Pinisi Cafe & Bakery
128 East 4th St
NY, NY 10003
(212) 614-9079