Sweet Revenge

After two and a half years of discussion, no lie, Courtney and I finally had a cupcake together. When choosing the bakery, my biggest priority was finding somewhere with enough space to sit and catch up. Bakeries typically require the grab and go, but it was too cold to walk around outside (can't wait for that weather to get here).

Based on Yelp reviews, I chose Sweet Revenge. The large windows and white walls help the space feel airy, even though it was carefully filled to the brim with seating for about 15. There was a little bit of a wait and service wasn't 100% due to a high volume of customers, but the most important part - the cupcakes - was good!

Courtney had the Dirty (Valhrona Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Truffle) with a cappuccino and I had the Pure (Mexican Vanilla Cake with Mexican Vanilla Icing) with milk in a wine glass. The cupcakes came wrapped carefully in paper rather than in a traditional cupcake wrapper. We agreed the cake was moist; it left that yummy residue on the cupcake paper, which is always a good sign for me. You could actually taste the vanilla in the cake and frosting, rather than just enjoying something sweet. I especially liked the frosting. It was not cloying and had large sugar crystals on top for texture.

Sweet Revenge paid a lot of attention to details that enhance the experience. I will definitely make a return visit. I want to try their namesake cupcake the Sweet Revenge.

Location: 62 Carmine Street (Between South 7th Avenue and Bedford Street)
Hours: Mon-Thurs 8:00p-11:00p, Fri 8:00a-12:30p, Sat 11:00a-12:30a, Sun 11:00a-9:00p
Cost: $$ ($3.50 per cupcake, which is a bit higher than most)

Homeade Oreos

The lovely and bubbly Louise is moving back to London, which is definitely New York's loss. For this occasion I was willing to watch The Bachelor's season finale (What a dick! I hate boys!) and naturally offered to bring something. With no suggestions, I recalled that Louise liked chocolate and found a recipe for homeade oreos.

These cookies are delicious, but pretty darn sweet, especially when you can't resist eating another and another and another... I love the chocolate cookie; you can feel the crispness of crystallized sugar when chewing. The filling's consistency is dead on with a regular Oreo, but with a much better vanilla flavor and less waxy aftertaste.

I followed the suggestion for decreasing the cookies' sugar and might even try taking more out next time. My other alterations were using Spectrum's Organic Vegetable Shortening, which is trans fat free and not hydrogenated, and using vanilla bean paste instead of extract. The paste substitution made the filling have the cutest brown specks. These will definitely be made again. Maybe for the holidays next year instead of caramels, marshmallows AND cookies?


"Brilliant! This falls right into my “why buy it when i can make it for twice the cost and 20 times the work” ethic." 2007 comment on the linked recipe describing my mentality perfectly. ;)

bill Granger's Caramel Chicken

My parents were my Valentines this year. They kindly came up to visit and decorate my room with my birthday present, an Ikea mirror from September, over Presidents Day weekend. They also hung a few photos and fixed up the bathroom with, sadly, only the tiniest bit of assistance from me. Everything is much more homey now and my room looks slightly more like a grown-up room.

As a thank you, and because I was a bit under the weather and not inclined to go out, I made them bill Granger's Caramel Chicken. It is fantastic and simple to put together. It tastes much better than Chinese takeout with impressively similar results. If you want to use chicken breasts instead of thighs, they work almost as well though you lose a lot of the chicken's tenderness, which is part of what makes this so similar to something at a restaurant. I also think this could successfully be adapted into a pescetarian dish with braised firm tofu.

I recommend using low sodium soy sauce instead of regular based on my experience with regular in July; I couldn't get enough water while eating due to the saltiness. I also feel like the low sodium soy sauce allows for a better balance between sweet and salty.

Between this dish and his amazing coconut bread, I'm seriously considering investing in at least a library reservation for bill's cookbooks. Both dishes have been easy with impressive results.

Cafe Habana

Cafe Habana still is one of my absolute favorite brunches in the city. This trip I tried something new - their flan. It is a very smooth and served with a sweet, sweet caramel sauce. I've never loved flan, but it was pretty decent. I had the revelation that flan is similar in texture to panna cotta. Maybe I'll research that. Regardless of what I eat at Cafe Habana nothing trumps the grilled corn i.e. choclos.

(Carving and Photo courtesy of JM, who introduced me to the place.)

Ricotta Zucchini Cheesecake

Sunday one of my friends had a birthday party for her Yorkie, Dixie, who was turning one. The hostess flattered me into cooking, in spite of some serious reluctance on my part. The best part was she had only tasted my cookies before so the flattery was without any knowledge of results. Ha ha. Her request was something savory, not a bread. I found this challenging as the easiest dishes to take on public transportation are sweet and/or bread. Plus! I'm more comfortable with sweets.

Intensive online research turned up this recipe for Ricotta Zucchini Cheesecake. I found my lack of a spring form pan a little disconcerting, but everything turned out okay even with my substitution of oregano for dill and use of an 8 x 8 cake pan. It didn't look quite as pretty as it could have, but the flavor was good and the cheesecake very filling. For me the goat cheese on top's rich, tangy flavor made the dish. It also added a contrast in texture to an otherwise slightly soft yet grainy (?) dish. One heads up: it took forever to make, even with the lovely mini-food processor my brother gave me for Christmas (that machine is a miracle worker).

I'll probably try this again in the summer. It's been a great leftover breakfast in the morning most of the week. Should you happen to take this back home via bus with saran wrap on top, start reading a magazine with it under your purse and stand up in a rush dumping it off your lap upside down (saran wrap intact), I'm pleased to report it will hold up.

Butternut Squash, Apple, and Carmelized Onion Gallette with Rosemary

I've been intimidated by pastry dough for quite some time, in spite of owning A New Way to Cook and reading blissfully about the "easiness" of free form galettes for years.

Yes! It really has been years. This was the first cookbook I ever wanted; I received as a gift from Jaime and I've used it twice. Well, the other night I finally decided to make a tart and purchased ingredients to improvise a filling only to discover THE INTERNET WAS BROKEN, which was SO not okay. I had to do things the old way with a good cookbook and my mind.

Somehow everything came together. The tart was pretty easy to make, although time consuming as the flaky butter pastry has to chill twice, the onions have to caramelize and the squash/apples have to be peeled and cubed then tossed in oil with rosemary before you can even cook the pastry.

The end result was well worth the effort. This was a very tasty breakfast all week long, although I need to work on pressing the ingredients into the crust a bit more as things tended to fall off the crust into my lap (or maybe I just should use silverware when trying to eat tarts).

Random Fact

New York Magazine, February 16, 2009 issue

"Fenugreek, the processed seeds from which produced that maple-syrup smell."

Zuni Cafe's Roasted Chicken

Zuni Cafe's recipe for Roast Chicken is the easiest roast chicken recipe I've made to date. Oh wait. In the past I haven't exactly used a recipe. I just followed Mom's expert advice and winged it with a small piece of citrus in the middle and thorough rub down of the chicken with salt, pepper, etc. before placing it in an oven cooking bag. I also have poached chickens twice in a just barely large enough pot.

While those results were tasty, this recipe trumps the aforementioned methods due to its fantastic results without the oven bag.* If you aren't squeamish about feeling around a small chicken, this recipe will provide fantastic results. Typically I don't enjoy skin on my chicken, but this crispy, not greasy, skin was an exception. The chicken itself is tender and moist on its own or an excellent source for making chicken salad, stir fries and soups during the remainder of the week.

I didn't even use marjoram as I couldn't find it fresh, without spending way too much for something I only needed a 1/4 sprig of. Best of all the clean-up was minimal and the pan juices were quite tasty mingled with the leftover brown rice, cherry tomatoes and parmesan in the fridge.


*Unless you want chicken soup and stock, in which case poaching the chicken is probably the best choice.

Hearty Potato Leek Soup

I'm in love with this potato leek soup. There are beautiful step by step pictures if you follow the link, although I didn't realize that until I went back just now.

I made the soup Sunday night, without a food processor, using my amazing immersion blender. It took a little over an hour; I only had to pay attention half the time. I ended up cooking the potatoes for around 25 minutes to get them soft enough to mash/blend, but otherwise found the recipe very accurate.

More importantly, I could NOT stop eating the soup, even before I added the cup of cream. Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I am going to try using regular milk or a lot less cream as I just didn't find it necessary (although the cream certainly makes it much more rich). It reminds me of New England Clam Chowder without the clams. ;)

It's divine, rich, creamy, comforting and warm in my stomach when it is so, so cold out. I hope you will try it and fall in love too.

Brown Rice Broccoli Cheddar Pie

This recipe for Brown Rice Broccoli Cheddar Pie was proposed as a way to use leftover brown rice, which I never have. It was so appealing that I purchased all the ingredients fresh to put it together.

The broiled cheese and broccoli on top was the best part, followed by the spicy spots from the chili garlic paste I used in place of hot sauce. I really need to buy S'ri cha. It would have been the perfect spicy sauce for this dish. This pie similar to a quiche or frittata with rice and reheats really well in the toaster oven. It is chunky and yet a little soggy at the bottom, which makes sense given the ingredients.

While tasty enough that I would make it again if I ever do have leftover rice, it didn't hit the spot for me. I think the texture is what throws me off, not the flavor.

Chicken and Dumplings

You wish Chicken and Dumplings with Leeks and Tarragon was your lunch. It hs been mine almost every day this week, even though I halved the recipe.

The dish has a thick stew-like consistency that is very warm and filling for the cold week we've been having. One problem with using this for lunch is that while I LOVE dumplings - savory, firm yet squishy and in general delightful - I have to admit they don't reheat well. They end up a bit soggy, basically returning to dough.

A few notes: This dish takes a while, so plan on spending a few hours cooking. There is lag time, but you can't really leave the house. In spite of following the halved ingredient list exactly, my dough was too firm to be dropped. I had roll and place the dumplings. I doubt this effects the flavor, but certainly changes the presentation. I also ended up adding a bit more chicken broth to every serving to juice it up enough for my taste.

Um, the picture is really small. I'll have to upload it again at home. I can't figure out how to do that with Picasa and deleted the thumbnail that I typically load up by accident. :(

Curly Kale, conquered.

For a year now I've been trying to find a way to eat kale since it is so healthy. I've followed countless sets of instructions off the internet: I've cut it into ribbons, I've steamed it, I've sauteed it and I've even made cashew cream to top it, which was real feat without a food processor. Regardless of the preparation, kale just was too bitter and chewy. Nothing about kale made me happy. I gave up.

Then in early December I ended up taking a GIANT Whole Foods veggie platter home after an event. How could I let that go to waste? It was calling to me to take it home. I found easy uses for the asparagus, carrots, celery, etc., but the whole thing was lined with kale. I had to do something with it, so instead of throwing it away, I tossed it in some chicken vegetable soup I was making. It was in there about 25 minutes simmering. Turns out Kale can be good. It just needs to be cooked until it is very, very tender while retaining it's shape.

Ultimately kale is reminiscent of spinach with more texture, if cooked enough. This made it a perfect complement to another one of my healthy winter concoctions, which I'll definitely recreate at a later date. The flavors of this dish went well together and I liked the crunchy, earthy mouth feel. Plus, I knew everything I was eating was great for my health! It's a full bunch of curly kale cut into ribbons and cooked down, cubed sweet potatoes, skins on, tossed in olive oil, cinnamon and cumin and roasted in the oven, and quinoa.

Winter Israeli Couscous

In a rare turn of events, I threw together a meal that I found creative, and enjoyable, enough to try posting about it. This couscous concoction was easy to put together, seasonally appropriate and fairly inexpensive.

Unfortunately, my description at the very end might not be entirely accurate as the dish was eaten weeks ago before Christmas. Then again my descriptions, perhaps, are never that accurate.

Winter Israeli Couscous
This prepared 4 to 5 servings, which I ate as individual meals.

• 1 box of Israeli Couscous from Trader Joe's
• 3 lbs of Butternut Squash
• 1/3 c. Italian Parsley, finely chopped
• 4 pieces (I think) of Trader Joe's Uncured Turkey Bacon
• 1/2 Red Onion, chopped
• Salt to taste
  

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the butternut squash and cut in half. Scoop the seeds and stringy part out with a spoon. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and place in the oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until you can easily poke through it with a knife.

While the squash cooks prepare the couscous as directed on the box. Cut the red onion and place on top of the couscous to steam (in the future I may saute it before cooking the couscous for a sweeter flavor) while the couscous cooks. Take the bacon and place it on a foil-lined baking sheet in the oven until not quite crisp, which in my oven took around 20 minutes as expected from the package. Cut up the parsley and set it aside.

By now the squash should be done. Remove it from the oven and let cool until you can handle touching it. Cut it into cubes, whatever size you'll enjoy. Add the squash and parsley to the couscous once it finishes cooking. Cover pan again to keep everything warm.

Remove the bacon from the oven and cut into pieces; I used scissors as it was easier. Add to the other ingredients in the pan and toss. Enjoy.


I liked the texture of the larger couscous. It is denser and chewier than the smaller version, similar to the tapioca balls in Bubble Tea. The roasted butternut squash and turkey bacon provided a salty sweet contrast that spiced up a potentially plain grain. Onions are a safe bet and the parsley added a splash of color with a refreshing flavor. I will make this again.

Maybe Someone Could Teach Me To Write About Texture

I had no idea there were classes to hone food writing, blogging and reviewing skills. There is even a food writing related class on food history! But the whole thing with this "food blog" is that I'm not committed; I don't even post regularly. Classes are kinda expensive and would go against that. On the other hand the reviewing one promises to teach you to not describe things as delicious (so guilty of that!)... Hmm. I guess this goes to show you can study anything!

Ziti with Tuscan-Style Cauliflower

I knew I wanted to make something with Cauliflower last weekend, but didn't know what. Soup was my first thought since my stockpile of broth was/is taking up most of the space in our petite fridge, but all of my bookmarked soup recipes called for expensive extra ingredients i.e. blocks of cheese, creme fraiche, wine, and all that good stuff. I could have roasted it, which reminds me of healthier popcorn, but it would have only filled me up for a night.

No good. I wanted an economical meal option. Once again the internet solved my problems by turning up a recipe for Ziti with Tuscan-Style Cauliflower. I purchased the ingredients for a half portion, which actually resulted in four meals. I don't know what kind of servings they think people need!

Once the cauliflower was cut, the dish was quick and easy to put together. I couldn't taste the mint (at least it added color), but the hint of red pepper provided a pleasant kick to a simple, satisfying meal. I blocked out the ziti part when purchasing ingredients, illustrated below, but followed the recipe exactly otherwise. I would highly recommend it, especially as for the second week in a row Lauren found something I cooked appetizing in appearance.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Apples

I finally made it to the Greenmarket a few weekends ago for the first time in months. When hauling my groceries home, I realized why I really should stick to visiting irregularly or at the very least stick to my shopping list. Everything is so tempting that I end up grocery shopping like the apocalypse is coming.

Does one person really need a 3 pound bag of apples, a full stalk of brussel sprouts, 4 pounds of chicken, etc.? Not so much. Oh well! At least I put the ingredients to good use. My successfully met cooking goals for the week were making from scratch shredded chicken and veggie soup (needed salt but otherwise decent), chicken broth, pumpkin bread, and Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Apples.

As I had never purchased brussel sprouts on the stalk cutting them off without cutting myself was a bit of an adventure. While my bravery with trying new dishes has improved over time, I haven't gained knife skills. In spite of this the brussel sprout dish was a success. I'll definitely make it again, probably using pre-cut brussel sprouts, as it was refreshing, light and filling. My co-worker Lauren actually thought it looked tasty, which never happens, and I felt healthy eating it.

My favorite aspect was the maple syrup browned tofu, a unique preparation that I suspect could be used in other dishes.

nagomi

Last Friday my friend Matt was in town and we caught up wandering from TriBeCa to Soho to the UES. It was a great night; Matt is the first person I really traipsed around restaurants with back in Richmond during college. We used to act like we were writing reviews using as much alliteration as possible. Our servers loved us.

One of my less inspiring temp jobs when I first moved to Manhattan was in Soho. As a treat for calling 600 people that I didn't have direct phone numbers for about an event, I decided to treat myself to lunch. "Extensive" research about sushi and lunches under $10 brought me to nagomi. I walked over, ordered the lunch special (some rolls and miso soup), and went to pay with my credit card. Guess what? nagomi doesn't take credit cards if you are spending less than $10. I was a dollar or so short. Embarrasing, but they were very kind and let me keep my food, which was delicious. So I always meant to go back and pay in full for a meal...

Cue being in Soho on Friday night craving sushi. Matt and I stopped in around 8:00 pm, were seated immediately, and ordered promptly. We started with edamame. nagomi's is served hot and with the perfect amount of salt and then split 5 different rolls. Everything was fresh and as tasty as I remembered it being 2+ years ago. As always I loved the eel cucumber roll, but was pleasantly surprised by the spicy scallop roll. It wasn't a marshmellow of the sea served this way but it worked well with the spice. Also interesting was the squash roll, which tasted completely different depending on whether or not you dipped it in soy sauce.

It was a great meal, although the service could have been more attentive, and I'll definitely return if my location and timing is right. Our bill also included a sapporo and was under $50. Not bad.

Location: 179 Prince Street (Between Thompson and Sullivan)
Hours: Mon-Sun Dinner, Lunch Mon-Fri
Cost: $$$

Instead of Eating to Diet, They’re Eating to Enjoy

Yesterday in the NY Times, there was a great article: Instead of Eating to Diet, They're Eating to Enjoy. A few quotes from an already short article...

The percentage of those consumers who are on a diet is lower than at any
time since information on dieting was first collected in 1985.

Resources reported that 53 percent of consumers say they are cooking from
scratch more than they did just six months ago, in part, no doubt, because of
the rising cost of prepared foods.

“We need to demystify cooking,” Ms. Waters said. “It creates feelings about
food that make you feel cared for, and that’s the kind of food that really
changes habits.”

Also, the more time people spend on tasks like food shopping, cooking and
kitchen cleanup, the more likely they are to be of average weight.

Cherry Tomato Clafoutis

I don't know how you say Clafoutis, but I assume it kind of rhymes with delicious. This recipe for Cherry Tomato Clafoutis is one of my favorite breakfasts to date. I was so excited to see a savory recipe for it instead of sweet that I made it as soon as possible.

As I had feta cheese on hand from one of the zucchini recipes last week, I used it as my cheese. I also substituted egg whites for one of the three eggs. The result was similar to my Mom's german pancake, but thicker and with a richer flavor. It reheats perfectly, although I liked it so much that there wasn't too much to reheat. The nice thing is it doesn't collect condensation on top like so many other breakfast dishes I have made...

I'm definitely going to make this again. It provides a nice break from my muffins and breads. I think eggs are technically a healthier breakfast anyway.

Beet and Buttermilk Soup

In the spirit of a frequently too hot summer, I have decided to start experimenting with cold soups. As eating beets cold was what made me learn to love them in the first place, I thought this recipe for Beet and Buttermilk Soup was a perfect place to start.

Once I tracked down buttermilk, it was ridiculously simple to put together and required minimal use of the stove. Something my roommates were bound to appreciate.

The buttermilk does an excellent job of cutting the sweetness typically found in beet dishes and the dill adds a unique flavor. Unfortunately it also reminds me of delicious Kosher Dill chips, which I haven't had in years and have no idea how to track down. Sigh. The magenta color is unique and garnered lots of compliments. It also made for a disaster with a pair of khaki capris; they were on the way out anyway, so I wasn't devastated.

If there was an appropriate occasion, I would probably make this soup again... Otherwise, I am just going to keep trying other recipes to find cold soup that tastes half as good as the carrot soup from June.