NYC Noms: Day 1 and 2

Day 1:

On our first day in New York, we woke up slightly bleary-eyed but excited. We slept in our BFC penthouse suite with the windows open, and...well...I've never heard so many sirens, horns, cars cranking, engines running in my entire life.

Our first stop was the Brooklyn Bridge which offered some great views of downtown and Governor's Island where Britton spent his magical childhood. I got wacked a couple times by uber sweaty joggers, but luckily, I was too distracted by people-watching and trying not get hit by stray cyclists and rogue toddlers.

After that, we headed over to the GI (Governor's Island) ferry terminal to make the 2.5-min voyage over to the island. It was once a Coast Guard station where Britton and his family lived in suburban-bliss right next to Manhattan. Today it is a national park, and one of the best places I have ever seen for biking, jogging, and exploring historic buildings.

One fantastic thing about New York is that there is plenty of street food and the varieties are endless. (Being a health inspector, this would be a nightmare for me back in Gwinnett, but since I don't work here, I am 100% for street vendors.) They have indian, thai, italian, tex-mex, korean, pakistani, greek, turkish, iranian, venezuelan, brazilian, el salvadorean...you name it, you will find it on the streets here. It is the biz-omb.

Above is the curry chicken roti from Veronica's West Indian on GI.

Before heading over to the Film Forum to view Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder in "3 Dimensions," we watched some awesome street performer's in Washington Square with a live accompaniment. (A video of the grand finale is at the very very bottom.) For dinner, we ate NY style pizza with all the trimmings at John's Pizza in Greenwich Village which everyone besides me seems to just call "The Village." I am trying to be an undercover tourist, but it's not working so well.

The pizza was great - not too greasy and very fresh. Unfortunately, I do hate black olives and now, I've discovered recently, also hate anchovies. I feel self-disgust. I should not be writing about these awesome foods using the word "hate." I guess you can't love everything, and to give myself some credit, I probably ate more olives and anchovies than I've ever eaten before.

Day 2:

WE HAVE HIT THE MOTHERLOAD. After a gleeful 30 min wait in the lobby of Jing Fong Restaurant in chinatown, we headed up the escalator with Britton's sister to a land of red-colored wonder and delight. Dim Sum is loosely translated as "Heart's Delight" and that is exactly how I felt here. We immediately started ordering despite the fact that we hadn't gotten our paper bill yet. One of the servers came up to our table after we complained about having neither tea nor pay slip. He chuckled, smiled, and said "No bill? No pay! Ha ha!" I wasn't laughing. I know a little bit about Chinese people, and one thing I don't see a lot of is comp-ing a meal. Britton's sister whispered, "Oh we'll pay. One way or another."

Above is leftover (as in hadn't been consumed in the initial rush) sui mai (best I've ever had) as well as taro bird's nests (my favorite kind of dim sum.) The three of us easily scarfed down every morsel.

A photo above of Pearl River Mart, where I purchased some gifts for my family and where we huddled away from the rain. I highly recommend a stop at this store. It is just so much fun to peruse, even if you don't want to buy anything.

Shadow cat. A resident of BFC brownstone. She is so sweet except when she isn't...like most cats! I adore her and so does BFC.

The best meal I had in NY so far was not at a restaurant at all. BFC ex husband lives on the lower level of the brownstone and made an insane meal. I had chilled chardonnay, dutch and french cheeses, heirloom tomato salad with basil, new potatoes with thyme, and a pork tenderloin cooked medium rare (uh-oh inspector) pork with fennel, curry, cumin, chives, and brown sugar. OH MY GOOD GOD. It was fantastic. Lots of the ingredients for this meal came from their backyard herb garden as well as from their vacation home garden in PA. Nom nom nom.

More to come!

Our Digs For NYC

After a short, but not so sweet flight from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach and then from the MB to NYC, we have swiftly made ourselves right at home here in New York. We are staying in a penthouse suite (Britton's father's cousin's [BFC] apartment) in Jersey City, right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. We get to walk down to the water front each day with  sweeping views of the NY skyline where I proceed to say 'What is that?" a million times while pointing.

The apartment is in a four-family brownstone, and is wonderfully decorated with little wooden statues and wacky shoe art done by none other than BFC herself. 
A gorgeous chest of drawers that BFC may be using to store her art supplies. It reminds me of a  classic 3-ring circus with the red paint and ornate gold flourishes. 

Some zany shoe art. I feel like tiny people should be playing croquet and nibbling biscuits in this shoe.

Meow.

Mad Hatter? Try Mad Cobbler. 
Beautiful well-lit kitchen with lots of greenery and an AMAZING wooden cutting board/countertop. I also loved the clay tiles on the floor.

And really awesome totems all over this place. These were my favorite due to placement. I believe they are the kitchen gods. I will pay homage to them with a fun-size toblerone.

I am so happy to have such a wonderful place to stay (for free no less) in New York. Stay tuned. More to come!!!

Update: Breakfast Pizza and the Obesity Open

There are a lot of strange things going on around here.

1) I moved into a nice little rental home with one furry, handsome Britton. It's got a real backyard and a real garage and REAL curbside recycling pick-up. I'm an adult.

2) I've been elbow deep in pool water all week. Which also means I've been elbow deep in dead frogs, spiders, ants, beetles, and tree parts. Might be why I come home and don't feel like cooking.

3) We've hired one mercenary Battle Kitten who goes by the name Odie. He fights in all our wars in exchange for petting, grooming, poop-scooping, and kibble. Britton threatens to kill him painfully on a daily basis, but I know we are both totally in love.

4) I am eating healthy. I developed a competition between Britton and I to lose weight and cut unnecessary calories out of our diet. Britton called it the Obesity Open (big tennis fan.) Below is a set of rules (which do not change daily despite naysayers.) Whenever a rule is broken per eating event, a dollar is put into the "Fund of Shame." The total "Fund of Shame" will ultimately wind up in the pocket of he/she who has sinned the least. Here are the rules.

• Exercise 2x per week, cardio or weights, for 30 minutes minimum.
• No fast food (specifically no deep fried food, no hamburgers.) We've been dealing with "fast food" items that are relatively healthy on a case-by-case basis.
• Rich dessert (in excess of 100 cal) once a month. May be exchanged for one fatty or deep fried food once a month.
• No full-calorie sodas. No sweet teas.
• No creamer or halfnhalf in coffee. Whole milk or lower.

See. Just basic stuff, but it's really made a difference in my attitude towards consuming food outside the home and to exercise. We joined the local YMCA maybe three weeks ago, and now we're both lifting weights, going to group cycling, and having conversations about our health. It's marvelous, and though we're currently tied (darn french fries at Keba,) I can't see either of us royally screwing this up.

This weekend I am staying in! I've been feeling sick and exhausted from work, so I'm making an effort to remain outside of my car and in my jammies. I will have a brief stint in workout shorts for the gym, but THAT IS IT. NO DRIVING. So rather than haunting our usual dim sum or Southern fusion brunch providers, I made it myself.

Breakfast Pizza (by smitten kitchen)

Please check out the original recipe on smitten kitchen's marvelous website. I love all her recipes which make awesome dishes using simple ingredients. Simple is always better in my book. That I will write someday. It will probably be pretty short. Like less than 100 pages.

Here's some eye candy and subliminal messaging.

MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Oh, did you know I am now cooking with gas? That's right. And yes, that is also bacon in that pan. When you make this pizza, remember, it's okay to eat a few slices as long as the cat is busy playing with shredded newspaper and your boyfriend is in the office with the door closed playing with his new iPhone.

YOU WANT TO MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Easy peasy, for sheasy. Just a little chopping. I left out the flat leaf parsley and the scallions. (I don't use parsley for anything - it tastes too bland to buy just for prettiness' sake.) But don't skimp on the shallot. Shallot is key.

You don't even need to make your own pizza dough. In a hurry - get it pre-made at the grocery store. (It doesn't take a lot of time, but you do need to plan ahead.)

Taa daa! MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Coming Soon! A week in New York City. NY Noms. Big Apple Binge. Manhattan Meatfest. I don't know what to call it yet, but it's going to be big! Restaurant reviews, artsy film houses, and a tutorial on how to eat soup dumplings and where to get some decent ones in Atlanta.

You make Cheese and Chocolate Fondue for Two, become great karate warrior

Above: Ingredients for traditional cheese fondue (Where's the kirshwasser? I think I forgot to put it on the table!)

Sometime in December my boyfriend took me out to The Melting Pot with his friend James and James' wife Liz. After the alpine salad, cheese fondue, hot oil fondue, and dark chocolate with Bailey's fondue (not to mention barrels of red wine - thank you, James) I decided maybe this gluttonous rampage upon my bowels might best be done at home. It was, for Britton and I, mostly about the salad and the cheese anyway. At home, I could at least control the portions and the variety of cheese. Also, the idea of spattering hot oil so close to my lovely, scar-free hands and arms made me a wee bit nervous even if the result was a tempura battered shrimp slathered in green goddess sauce...oh, you know.

Britton was convinced Valentine's Day was just some man-hating mixture of gooey pink and red candy hearts mixed with melty chocolate cherry madness. He may be somewhat right about that, but I looked at the holiday as just another chance to spend time together and eat, eat, eat. Combining our love of cinema (even 80's sports flicks) and food, we chose a combination platter fondue feast and Karate Kid mini-marathon.

Also check out my new electric fondue set (V-day present, yays!) So easy to clean.

I'll let him talk to you about Karate Kid I and II, but as far as the fondue goes, I think I knocked it out of the park.

The follow recipe is a variation on a recipe I found at Epicurious from Gourmet Magazine. Some ingredients have been altered to protect the innocent.

• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine (Riven Rock is a great dry chardonnay for this from Whole Foods.
• 1 fresh garlic clove
• 3-4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons kirschwasser (a cherry brandy, available at most liquor stores)
• 1 cup Emmental cheese, grated
• 1 cup Appenzaller cheese, grated
• 2 cups Gruyere cheese, grated

Slice the clove of garlic in half and rub halves on the inside of the fondue pot. There will be this aromatic garlic-y residue that adds a lot of flavor to the cheese. Don't forget it!

Add the wine to the pot and allow it to simmer. Also add the kirschwasser.

Mix the cornstarch and cheese together in a bowl. Add handfuls of the cheese to the simmering pot slowly while stirring with a nonstick spoon. Don't let the cheese bubble too much. Just keep stirring. Switch wrists if you have to. This be-yotch ain't gonna make itself you know. You gotta work it!

Fondue should thicken within a couple minutes. If you've waited a while and the fondue has not thickened to your liking, mix a little more cornstarch with enough water to dissolve it. Add this mix to the pot, make sure its still hot, and stir, baby, stir.

Don't worry...it is soooo worth it....

Oh god, oh man, oh god, oh man, oh god, oh man, OH GOD.

Serve with slices of warmed kielbasa, lots of fresh, crunchy bread, and sliced granny smith apples. Cornichons and vegetables (cooked potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, sauteed brussel sprouts) are also popular.

And we are not even done yet! No sir. I hope you made room for dessert. The flavors

in this mix are mostly dark chocolate and almond, but honey adds a complimentary sweet-

ness to the bitter cacao. This recipe is straight from Epicurious, so I will let them guide you

on your way to chocolate heaven.

We had this with fresh strawberries and pineapple pieces. After the sausage and bread, we

didn't want to push our tummies to the limit. We needed to keep ourselves ready for a fight

in case a bunch of guys in skeleton tights broke into Britton's house and questioned our

skills in karate. Hai!

Pound cake, brownies, marshmallows, etc. These are also great for chocolate fondue, but really,

anything will go with this fondue...beets, corn tortillas, monkey brains. It's that good.

Homemade Tomato Soup (And some grilled cheese advice too)

A quick look back at some delicious meals I've had in the past couple months, since I haven't been around to blog about it. (Yeah, sorry 'bout that.)

Christmas Day: Country fried steak, pan gravy, homemade mashed potatoes, coleslaw, corn, crowder peas, corn, and dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped with basil and proscuitto - my overcooked attempt at gourmet hors d'oeuvres (not shown.)

Don't hate.

Girls' Night with Julie: Dinner at the Thai Restaurant of Norcross. We had my favorite, the panang curry with tofu as well as a large helping of pad thai with pork and the coconut soup seen in the...uh...what is that thing called? It was yummy, albeit a little salty. I'm glad I found a local thai place after Cozy Yum Yum in Athens, GA turned into a pit of culinary despair.
Eating in w/ the Boyfriend: Coconut fried shrimp, jasmine steamed rice, and fresh steamed broccoli. I used Alton Brown's recipe sans the homemade peanut sauce. I used Lee Kum Kee brand bottled peanut flavored sauce instead. (I hate bottled sauces, but this was an exception. I didn't have a blender at the time, and I thought I'd lost the shield for liquids on my food processor.) The shrimp were succulent and crunchy. Also a hit with my boyfriend, who ate his weight in these little taste sensations.

Also, please just spend the extra money, and go for the peeled and deveined shrimp. If they are frozen, so be it. I spent way too much time huddled over the kitchen sink, and I can never have that back.

Tomato soup is one of those dishes I just wasn't crazy about as a child. I hated fried bologna, the taste of cough syrup, sour patch kids, ketchup, pickles, and many other supposed "kid-friendly" flavors and foods. I refused to eat fresh tomatoes, so why would I compromise my palate by consuming these overly salty tomato concoctions disguised as delicious campbell's soup? And why would I even ask for tomato, when I could have chicken noodle or vegetable or even black bean?

But my boyfriend, as usual, got really excited at the prospect of making soup one day after I, in a wave of exhaustion, decided to put together something simple for dinner. Why not soup and grilled cheese? Easy enough. The conversation, with all its good intentions, ended with me agreeing to make homemade tomato soup knowing full well I had no food-pulverizing equipment whatsoever.

Though I was a little peeved that I had so quickly conceded to my boyfriend's pleading, it ultimately lead to my quest for an immersion blender. They look like this. That one actually looks a lot nicer. I purchased a much cheaper version with two attachments and a little carrying case. So far, it has been very helpful and easy to clean. Just make sure you press the thing all the way to the bottom of the pot before you turn it on, or say hello to red polka dots on your nice white cotton sweater from Ann Taylor Loft. Aye ya! (For this recipe, a blender will probably work just as well, but then you gotta clean them out. Blech.)

Here's a souper....ha ha...souper quick tomato soup recipe for those of you who need something easy and wholesome and dare I admit, comforting.

3 Cups Chicken Broth (canned or homemade, whatevever, but if it is canned, please omit the extra salt)

1 Can Muir Glen Organic crushed tomatoes

1 Cup Half and Half

One and a half handfuls of basil chopped into strands (chiffonade if you want to get technical)

1/2 teaspoon of red cayenne pepper (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine the broth, half and half, tomatoes, cayenne, and about a handful of basil into a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 20 min. Stir occasionally.

Allow soup to cool slightly. Use immersion blender to blend the soup thoroughly until no tomato chucks are left and the soup has a thicker consistency. Garnish with the remaining basil. Serve with wheat saltines.

NOTE: Always salt soup after it has cooled down a little. If you taste it when it is still boiling hot, you cannot tell how much salt is already in the soup.

DELICIOUS GRILLED CHEESE NOTE: If you are going to make grilled cheese to go with this amazing soup, I recommend using soft italian bread (no whole wheat, not for this) and the sharpest cheddar you can find. This is the best combo I have ever had. Forget your fancy muenster, your swiss, your brie. Sharp Sharp Sharpity cheddar. To make it even better, thinly slice a granny smith apple and put the slices next to the cheese before you start to grill your sandwich. It is gooey crunch heaven. I am chewing on my wrist just thinking about it.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes and Google Reader

I love my google reader page. It gives me the warm fuzzies. I want to curl up with it on the couch, a steamy cup of genmaicha tea in one hand and my browsing finger on the other. For the uninitiated, it is a web-based organizer of RSS feeds. In my line of hobbying, I follow a lot of food blogs as well as pop-culture and some educational feeds. My close friend Google Reader consolidates and organizes all of these feeds into one pleasant-looking interface. You can also share items on google reader with your google contacts. It is the mf bomb, people. I am telling you.

On a completely different note, a couple weeks ago I inspected a restaurant near Chateau Elan owned by this nice Korean couple. Seeing pounds of marinated galbi in her fridge, I asked if she would give me her galbi recipe. Of course she would! I am the health inspector, and restaurant owners are terrified of me. So I grabbed some short ribs from the local Super H and had a barbecue with some friends. As one of the banchan for the barbecue, I whipped up some Chinese scallion pancakes. My boyfriend and I had eaten these at Chef Liu's off Buford Hwy. Chef Liu's also has decent soup dumplings, but I don't have the time or patience for making soup dumplings at this point in my life.

The pancakes are super easy to make and the ingredients are simple. Some recipes use yeast, but I am not a baker and should not be encouraged to buy anything that is going to sit longer than a month in my little pantry.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes

2 cups flour

1 cup hot water

Green onions, sliced into thin rings

Sesame seeds

Kosher salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Sambal oelek chili paste to spread over pancake

Mix your 2 cups flour and 1 cup hot water until the dough is fully mixed and slightly sticky. Flour your rolling surface and your hands. Scoop a small handful of dough onto the floured surface and press flat into a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect, people, any circular shape will do.

Place a small handle of slice green onion and a sprinkling of sesame seeds onto the flat dough and press the ingredients gently into the dough so they will stick. Now roll the dough into a tube like a taquito, lengthening and forming it into a cylinder. Take the cylinder and curl it around itself like a snail shell. Press the rolled up dough flat. The snail shell you created should ensure that the pancake is relatively circular once you press it out.

Brown the pancake in a skillet on medium heat in about 1/3 tbsp of olive oil. For heat, spread a small amount of chili paste on the pancakes. The pancakes can by somewhat dry, so serve them with a moist food like scrambled eggs or soup.

Please Save Me! Roasted Pumpkins

It is 4 o'clock in the morning here in Hazlehurst, GA. Hazlehurst is a tiny little town 30 minutes south of Vidalia. I am holed up at the cleanest hotel I could find for on-site sewage management systems (or septic system) training. I work as an environmentalist, and one of my responsibilities is inspecting septic tanks and helping people get the most out of their septic system. It isn't glamorous, but I love fiddling around outside with a hand-held auger and playing in the mud.

Hazlehurst is a typical south Georgia city. Beautiful flatwood pine forests, heat-worn buildings, and good ol' boy politics. The most apparent problem I have with this place is that I can count the number of restaurants in this town with both hands. Burger King, McDonald's, Krystal, and Dairy Queen. There's a small pizza buffet place that didn't make me sick. The last two nights I've been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with yogurt and fruit from my hotel fridge. We had a "cookout" one night with fried quail, venison sausage, and an assortment of carbohydrates including french fries, biscuits, gravy, grits, and coconut cake. Needless to say, I was starved for anything that wasn't fast food, so I chomped into that little quail like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately, on the second bite I crunched down into a piece of birdshot. I just sat staring at the small metal ball in my hand, wondering what I had done to deserve this punishment.

Last night my boyfriend told me he was eating Peking duck and Chinese broccoli. A part of me died.

I am starved for wholesome, nutritious, and appealing provisions, and that is why I am up at 4:30 am writing about pumpkins. Here we go.

Roasting a pumpkin is very easy, and it is an excellent way to eat pumpkin in its unsweetened, unprocessed form. (Plus, you get to roast the seeds for extra credit.)

Roasted Pumpkin

1 small sugar pumpkin (or pie pumpkin)

1 tbsp butter, melted

Enough water to cover the bottom of your roasting pan

Slice the pumpkin in half, being careful not to dismember yourself. Gently remove the seeds from the pulp with a gentle pinching action. The less pulp you pull off with the seeds, the better. Scrape the stringy pulp out of the pumpkin with a large spoon. (Note: I was doing this all outside. It can get messy and dried pulp is hard to scrub off the kitchen counter.)

Baste the inside of the pumpkin with the melted butter. Turn the pumpkin upside down on a roasting pan so the rind is facing up. Fill the pan with water so that the entire bottom is covered. Preheat oven to 350 and roast for 45-55 minutes.

I used a mixture of roast pumpkin and roast acorn squash to make Thai-Spiced Pumpkin Soup from 101 Cookbooks. I went a little crazy on the red thai paste and the sambal oelek chili paste, but it was delcious. My boyfriend was drinking it up. I would also recommend trying any of these pumpkin dishes from Pinch My Salt.