food dates, in clean well-lighted places

Two of my lovely pals treated me to a couple of fantastic food outings.
I have been to Chika-Licious a couple of times and this time, again
being a lovely experience. I adore all of the staff and their utter
excitement when telling you about the earl gray tea pudding and meyer
lemon sorbet and their love for it is totally contagious. My favourite thing
about this place is watching Chika prepare desserts and her silent little
smile as she does things like torch a creme brulee or perfectly round out
an ice cream scoop.


Hai totally surprised me with the suggestion of going to Minetta Tavern
to sample the infamous burger and the cote de boeuf. It was indulgent
and I loved every minute of it. Here is my day after reactions:

it was fantastic.
we had cocktails- excellent- hai had one with rosemary, delicious-
we shared the black label burger-
perfectly cooked- onion relish on top amazing-
brioche bun was a bit lacking- tasty and wonderful surely- but lost its form and edge
when soaked with the meats juice-just became a mechanism to hold the burger
was good- but wish it held its shape
very tasty- worth 26 bones
not sure but you gotta try it once

and then we had the cote de boeuf
superb
this is the best meat i have ever eaten-
sublime almost and there was tons of it-
and the bone marrow, completely indulgent
soaking it up with the bread- fat becomes fantasy-

when we were making our order, the waitress was like 'i recommend a vegetable,
that is a lot of meat' hai looked at me and i was like hai, we are not here to eat vegetables

i love you david and hai. thank you for eating with me.

piece of my heart

I think receiving this would floor anyone.

candybar is the new crack

I finally went to the momofuku milk bar a couple weeks ago and since
tasting the candy bar pie on my second visit, I have been crushing on it.
And it is major. i cannot stop thinking about it. Its salty, caramel perfection.
Texturally and tastefully ideal. I don't know how they did it, but now I am
completely obsessed and must find a way to replicate.

monofuku milk bar
207 second avenue at 13th street
nyc

hot apple floor

well, i guess it is high time i admit what happened with the pie contest.
i gathered all my needs to make this baby and this is what came out
of the oven. i put oven mittens on to carry it out of my pals apartment.
K and i are walking down the stairs and he is says 'oh dude, i am afraid
i am going to drop mine' (he made a delicious pomegranate infused apple pie).
with his words still hanging in the air, i fall down the stairs.
with the pie.
my feet totally flew up in the air and with me, the pie.
it was completely inverted on floor of the entrance of the building,
with hot apples everywhere.
it was obscene.
me and apples flying up in the air.

i tried to patch it up and shove the apples back into the crust, but it was no use.
it was wrecked and i was too proud to bring a smashed pie to the contest.
i ate some of the crushed dessert and it was quite good and i was real sad.

we still went to the contest. K never dropped his.
it was horrible but kind of amazing and funny, as well.
we had a really good laugh about it all.

i will have to wait til next year to gather those highest honors.

rematch

i was sore last october when i didn't receive any recognition of my

whiskey carmel apple pie at Enids annual apple pie bake off...

so, i am in to win this year and i conjured this up during yoga class tonight...

apples baked over a layer of apricot (tsran!) jam in a marzipan/almond crust

that draws formation inspiration (aka swirly bits) from this fall 2009

christopher kane dress.

its on.

viva zucchero!

for chocolate sauce:

1 cup heavy creme

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon butter at room temperature

1 teaspoon bourbon

for churros:

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1.5 cups sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup flour

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 quarts peanut oil

1. make chocolate sauce, in medium pan, heat cream until small bubbles form. remove from heat.

pour chocolate into hot cream, sit for 5 minutes, stir until smooth. stir in butter and then bourbon.

keep warm.

2. prepare churros: in shallow pan, combine cinnamon and sugar; set aside. in small saucepan,

melt butter with the milk and salt over medium heat and bring to a boil, add flour and cook, stir constantly

until a dough forms and pulls away from the sides of pan, about 30 seconds. remove from heat and cool for

3 minutes. stir eggs into the batter until smooth. fill a pastry bag filled with large star tip.

3. in medium pot, heat about 3 inches of oil to 350 degrees, squeeze out batter and snip when it reaches 4 inches

long. fry in batches, turning once, until deep golden brown. about 4 minutes. drain on paper towels. 

while still hot, roll in cinnamon sugar. serve with chocolate sauce, makes about 16.

 

love pie

blueberry lavender pie

for crust, 2 cups unbleached flour, 3/4 cup cold vegetable shortening

1 tsp salt, about 2 cups of water

using knives, cut up flour and shortening, sprinkle water and gather to a ball and chill one hour

grease nine inch pie plate, roll out bottom crust, coat with egg white, chill another 1/2 hour

1 cup sugar

(i prefer to grind up about 1 tsp of fresh/dry lavender with sugar)

3 tbs corn starch

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

pinch of cinnamon

2 pints fresh blueberries

mix sugar, corn starch, salt, cinnamon and zest add blueberries and lemon juice, toss and chill

roll out top crust (cut hearts), add about 1/4 cup crushed graham crackers to bottom crust

spoon in fruit, throw on a couple more lavender buds and add top, trim edges poke steam vents

15 minutes at 425 and then 30-40 minutes at 350

cool and eat with ice cream 

(also can use raspberries or a combination of blueberries and raspberries)