Ah Thanksgiving…it is a time to give thanks for all that is special to us.
DID YOU KNOW?
The first “Thanksgiving” was 1621 with the Plymouth colonist and Wampanoag Indians, however it was not the first for the Native Americans celebrated “Harvest Festivals” ceremonial dances, and other celebrations giving thanks to the spirits for bountiful crops and wild game for centuries before Europeans arrived in North America.
Some food they may have eaten …It ain’t your Mom’s Thanksgiving!
Venison, Eel, Clams, Lobster, Wild Goose, Duck, Crane, Swan, Eagles, Turkey
Pumpkin (not pie) peas, beans, winter squash, wild onions, Dried Indian Maize
Cranberries, blueberries, concord grapes, Nuts, such as walnut, Acorns, Chestnuts
Even though the “First Thanksgiving” was 1621; it wasn’t declared as a National day of Thanksgiving until Abraham Lincoln, more than 200 hundred years later. However it wasn’t made an Official National Holiday until Congress finally made it one in 1941.
The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days. I have had some hangovers like that!
Ben Franklin wanted to make a Turkey the national bird of the United States (yeah, that would have been crappy) But Thomas Jefferson opposed him (thank goodness). It is then said that Franklin dubbed the Turkey “TOM” just to piss him off!
The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was in 1924 in NYC; the Macy employees launched the parade featuring animals from Central Park Zoo. Today, some 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on television. Parade fact: Snoopy has appeared more times than any another balloon and made his 6th appearance as the Flying Ace in 2006
In 1934 the Detroit Lions played on Thanksgiving Day for the first time ever! They hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. NBC radio broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country. The Lions have played every Thanksgiving (except between 1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on television for the first time.
I love Thanksgiving and even though I live in a country where is it not celebrated I still prepare a Thanksgiving meal every year…even if it is not TURKEY, who said we had to eat turkey on Thanksgiving anyway? I know for years Thanksgiving was always that holiday where everyone went all out with the food. Turkey and a Ham, 6 to 7 sides, that could have included…stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie ,pecan pie, apple pie…anyway you get the picture…it was always WAY too much food.
Well why not cut it down? Really do you need ALL THAT…It is super simple to make an elegant Holiday meal that will satisfy everyone. Not only will YOU be able to enjoy your Thanksgiving instead of being in the kitchen for 3 days cooking and cleaning, you will save some BIG BUCKS and right now in this questionable economy who doesn’t want to save a bit?
Here is a sample menu.
Ham with a brown bourbon glaze
Baked sweet potatoes with honey butter
Garlic Almond Green Beans
Rolls
Pumpkin parfait
Ham with a brown bourbon glaze
1 Ham
½ C brown sugar
1 C Bourbon
1 tsp whatthisheresauce
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp butter
Hams are all pretty much pre-cooked all you have to do is heat and serve. Some hams do come with their own glazing sauce; if you want to use it use it.
Unwrap the ham and so what I call chriscross along what will become the crackling.
In a sauce pan over med heat, add bourbon, sugar, whatthisheresauve, ground cloves, and butter until it come to a slight boil, this sauce will not be thick. With a brush, glaze the ham and make sure you get all the crosses, keep glazing throughout the re-heating process.
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Honey Butter
4 large baked potatoes (you have more people get more potatoes
½ C butter (yes, real butter) room temp
1/3 C honey
1tbsp brown sugar
Wash the potatoes well, do not wrap in anything. Baked the potatoes at 350 for at least 1 hour, make sure they are fork tender.
While they are baking, whip the butter, brown sugar and honey together, once well incorporated place in plastic wrap and wrap up like a log, place back in refrigerator, when ready the long can be cut into rounds and placed on top of the hot potatoes.
Garlic Almond Green Beans
1lb green beans, washed and trimmed
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 C, chopped and cleaned leaks
¼ C toasted slivered almonds
2 tbsp olive oil, separated
1 tsp lemon juice
In a large skillet sauté the leeks in 1 tbsp of olive oil for about 7 minutes over med to high heat, now add the green beans and garlic and toss with the remaining olive oil and sauté for another 5 to 6 minutes, now add the almonds and lemon juice and place in preheated over (350) for 10 minutes, give a nice toss when removing from oven serve.
Pumpkin Parfait
2 c vanilla pudding
1/2 c 100% Pure Pumpkin
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 C toasted chopped pecans
Whipped cream
Mix the pudding, pumpkin and pies spice in a bowl.
Get some pretty glasses (they do not have to match) and fill glass ½ way with pumpkin mixture, sprinkle some pecans, more pumpkin, more whipped cream top with more pecans…yes, it really is that easy
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
We ATE New York!
Well we have just returned from our New York Culinary adventure and what an adventure it was.
Even thought we did this trip in early October I wanted to post the Halloween goodies first… I hope you enjoy reading! Gee I hope my trainer doesn't see this, she might kick my butt even harder!
Thursday October 8th
After arriving Thursday we stored out bags and off to find a great little lunch spot and we did, called Noodle Bar a small little place, not a lot of sitting room, but we did not mind waiting. When we sat down we were given a regular menu and an insane lunch special menu, choice of a noodle, 2 small egg rolls and a salad for $7.95, I opted for the Pad Thai noodles with beef and the hubby opted for Fried Flounder over pan fried noodles, which was pretty spectacular, this fish was perfectly cooked. I love a good Pad Thai, but this was a great Pad Thai, some places have a tendency to go towards a heavy peanut butter flavor, not this one, it had that tad bit of sour note that I love in Pad Thai, so after 2 glasses of wine and one sake our bill with tip was $35.00!
That evening was the Chelsea After Dark event, we arrived an hour early and thank goodness we did, the line was long then, but after being there for 30 minutes it was down and around the block. 9.00 PM they opened the flood gates and let everyone in, the first booth was Sandra Lee (from the food Network) which everyone flocked to, so we by-pasted. Next stop Guy Fierie, when you first walked in the room it was like walking into a Rock N Roll Club, loud and loud again! There he was…Guy standing in the middle greeting selected people. As we walked past I was able to snap a couple pictures, then over to the bar, all they had was rum, I have one rule, rum makes me dumb, so we grabbed a couple of pulled pork sandwiched and off to the next area, which BTW the pulled pork sandwiches, I really have had better, I am not knocking Guy, but sorry Guy, I have had better, hell I’ve made better. There was a lot to see so off we went to check out the rest of the event.
Now there was wine bars set everywhere, so we had no issues with finding wine nor did we have issues with finding food since every outlet had a food station. First stop, I have to give an awesome shout out to The Green Table, one of my favs, they had goat cheese and bacon tarts with a watermelon gazpacho, they had me at Goat Cheese!
On to The Lobster Place, they had some rocking fresh oysters, you could taste the natural brine, they were so fresh and so amazing, I got back in line for a second helping! As I stood in line for the oysters hubby stood in the for the lobster bisque and scallop and bacon chowder, which won me over. The base was not too thick and right amount of smoothness; the faint hint of bacon was the back note and did not over power the scallops, which were perfectly done and sweet. I could have bathed in that chowder. On to find some more wine and food, next stop was a great little sandy shop with mini classic Ruben’s. Next stop the Bowery Kitchen shop, which had some rockin’ wraps. As we walked alo
ng we enjoyed the rest of the stores, food, wine, music, decorations and excitement the evening was offering. Then all of a sudden who else do we hear yelling "CHOCOLATE"…Jacque Torres , the chocolate master himself, he handed me a chocolate laced with Cayenne pepper, how amazing that one tiny piece of chocolate was, you had the fant hit of heat right at the very end! He was fun!
We walked that hall 3 or 4 times that evening and on last pass towards the end of the evening was the highlight of the evening maybe even the trip, who stood before us, but none other than Jeffery Stinegarden, who was super cool to talk to and to mention a little happy (you get my drift) And Chef Amanda Freitag… GO TEAM FREITAG….And yes Jeffery I mentioned to Bob Tuschman that you are NOT too hard on the chefs. What an amazing evening.
Friday October 9th
Friday was our free day, nothing planed and nothing booked for the Food and Wine Festival, so we headed out got a bagel with lox (breakfast of champions!) and off to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Annex, which was free admission that day to pay tribute to John Lennon’s birthday, he would have been 69 years old. The Hall of Fame itself was exceptionally done, wish I had pictures, but we were not allowed to take pictures, after walking through and listening to decades of great rock n roll, we came to the tribute of John Lennon, I have to say I did in fact shed a few tears in that room, an amazing man taken to soon. As Yoko said, “When he left that morning he was a man who had everything, he returned to me in a brown bag” his remains were never opened by Yoko and now are part of the Rock N Roll Annex, along with his blood splattered glasses. Yoko took the most disturbing picture, his glasses covered in blood splatter; the picture was later used as an awareness poster regarding hand guns in the US.
Enough I am starting to cry just rethinking it all. Rest in Peace John!
Off to lunch we go…where you ask, none other than Morimoto’s! We had the most incredible meal there, starting with a wasabi infused vodka, sake martini garnished with a cucumber – YUM! Then on to rock shrimp appetizer and a steamed scallop appetizer, we ordered two because we thought the portions were going to small, we thought wrong, but I am glad the shrimp was a big portion, it was so crispy on the outside with still leaving the shrimp sweet and tender on the inside and the sauce, there were 2 different sauces, and hell if I can remember them, but I could have sat there and ate that dish all day. The scallops were also perfection, sweet and fresh, we watched them shuck them fresh. They were simply prepared by steaming and placed on top of bok choy. Then we dug into 3 rolls, we ordered a soft shell crab roll, salmon skin roll and spicy yellowtail roll, which all were amazing, the salmon skin roll was done differently then what I am accustomed to but who cares, it was heaven, it was better than what I am accustomed to, it had this wonder light char flavor, we think the skin and some meat on the skin was grilled, but WOW it was wonderful and melted in my mouth. I also ordered sashimi Kobe beef and abalone. Let me start with Kobe, the fat was so well marbled that the minute it touched my tongue I could actually feel it melting away leaving a beef flavor that was so mild and yet so intense at the same time it was insane! Abalone has a tendency to be a bit chewy, however, this was tender and tasting it you could taste the ocean, so fresh, so good!
That evening we had reservations at Craft, a Tom Collico restaurant. Two amazing restaurants in one day, life is good! We started with cocktails at the bar, naturally and then after 15 minutes we were seated. The menus we were handed explained nothing how the food was prepared, if you wanted to know you had to ask. I loved the concept that all meals are served towards the middle of the table encouraging everyone to share. After reviewing the menu carefully I decided on the Crispy Bacon appetizer and the roasted Maine Lobster for a main and the corn and bacon risotto for a side. The bacon came out in 3 big blocks, first they were braised then quickly deep fried to get a nice crunch on the top and served with pickled watermelon rind, my only complaint would be not enough rind, the pickled rind was superb and balanced well against the fat of the bacon, as I took my first bite my tasted buds stood on end, the bacon fat just melted away leaving this crunch from the crackling I just wanted to scream ….”bring me 4 more orders please”. Then on to the roasted lobster, it was beautiful. Can a dish be beautiful? Yes, it can, it was a whole sweet Maine lobster, removed from the shell and roasted (thank you, no mess) and no ordinary butter here, no way, I got “lobster butter” it was much lighter than regular butter and so much more flavor, like a light lobster bisque butter. Then on to the risotto, which turned out to be the highlight of the meal, it surpassed the lobster and I am a lobster girl! It was beyond belief, it had the perfect sweet flavor of the corn and smokiness of the bacon, creamy without being grossly full of cream it was not thick at all, it was perfect, you could taste the crispness of the corn and pared with the bacon, a match made in heaven, even garnished with a strip of bacon, I would have to say it is the BEST risotto I have ever had.
The hubby ordered, chanterelles with peaky toe crab served with a poached egg, it was served in a cream sauce which I thought it overpowered the crab, as my husband pierced the egg to allow the yolk to run, we both noticed the white of the egg was still really runny, and if there is one thing Chef Chillico is stern about is eggs have to be cooked, he would have been upset over that egg. For his main he ordered the Wild Salmon, the reason he ordered the Salmon was the wild caught factor and he said he tasted a major difference between farmed and wild, I took his word on it because he would not share. His side was the garlic risotto, well we almost got into to a heated debate over which risotto was better, the corn and bacon or the garlic, the garlic was just as superior same concept, rich and creamy full of garlic flavor, but like I told him anything with bacon is better!
I was told when you go to Craft you must try the donuts, well I am not one for sweets, I would rather have a cheese plate than sweets, well I had the donuts because I gave a promise I would. I am so glad I gave that promise, hubby and I shared the spiced donuts with a chocolate sauce and a pear sauce (I think it was pear) I have never tasted donuts so light and airy, those donuts are cloud 9! Oh and when you are leaving Craft they had you a little to go bag with a muffin in it, ours was pumpkin, so moist, so tasty, so smart…You went to bed wondering what that muffin was going to taste like and you woke up thinking of Craft and that darn muffin!
Saturday October 10th
Lunch was so New York! Pizza at The Original Famous Ray’s on 8th and Broadway, now this is the way pizza is suppose to be done. Sausage and pepperoni with mushrooms, the grease sliding down my hand as I folded it and devoured it!
Off to Tour de Beef, what is that you ask? Well it was a tour of the largest and oldest meat distributor in NY, DeBraggas, where they explained in great detail the difference in dry aging and wet aging. Mond you we were standing in the cooler with over a million dollars worth of dry aged beef and they dry age steaks for almost top restaurant in the city. So just in case you ever come across dry age steaks you want to purchase one, just remember no less than 28 days and no more than 45 days aged, but also remember they are more expensive, no bargains here. But oh so well worth it.
Dinner was an enjoyable find, we were an hour early for the Mario Batali Times Talk Event, so we found a great little place right next-door called MONTENAPO (250 West 41st St.) being a bit hungry we decided on 2 appetizers, seared scallops topped with shaved truffles and a cheese plate. I will eat anything with truffles! Perfectly seared scallops, served on top of sunchoke puree and topped with shaved black truffles…let me see if I can explain this, you first get this earthy note from the truffle and for some reason I think it is going to overpower the buttery, sweet subtleness of the scallop, then you get this creamy sunchoke puree that again takes off the charts due to sunchoke back notes like celery, nut and potato. Now on to the cheese plate, yes, a simple cheese plate was that good, the presentation was just classy and the cheeses were divine, served with topping like caramelized onions, honey and marmalade! So as we left to attend the event they said “hope to see you soon” my husband turned and said “sooner than you think”.
Right after the event we went right back and had dinner! I started with a marinated thick slice of eggplant that had this smooth goat cheese mouse on top and taffiasche olives if you are an eggplant lover like me you need this dish, at first I thought the marinade was too much then I had a bite with the mouse, well that is when it all came together, the tartness of the mouse balanced the marinade, then on to the mixed mushroom fettuccini, if you love mushrooms this is the pasta for you, not creamy at all, which I love, you could taste each mushroom, the meatiness of the portobella, smokiness of the shitake, mild almost sweetness of the oyster, the earthliness (almost truffle like) of the morels and the richness and meatiness of the porcini all tossed in a veal reduction and topped with parmesan cheese. I was in mushroom heaven! Then the husband orders a really nice salad of arugula, radicchio, trevisana, endive topped with parmesan cheese, tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette, yummy and his main course…slow roasted GOAT, I took his word that is was amazing as he claimed it was, it was falling off the bone so it had to be super tender. This place was truly a find!
Sunday October 11th
Off to Russ and Daughters for a bagel and lox for the hubby and a bagel with a schemer of caviar cream cheese – that was super good! A New York Icon!
Well after walking off our bagels and it time to make our way to the final and last event we were going to the Cheese and Olive Oil tasting at Fig and Olive, we headed towards the meatpacking district to grab some brunch, I love NY style of brunch, there is no buffet, going and eating as much as possibly can in one sitting. It is more of an event, restaurants there on Saturday and Sundays have one menu BRUNCH, it is all ala carte. So we headed to Pastis for brunch, what a lovely setting, we were seated outside; the sun was out there was crispness in the air and the hussle and bussle of the meatpacking district. I had two eggs perfectly poached on top of creamy polenta topped with sautéed roasted peppers and prosciutto with vodka and OJ, got to get the juice in! The hubby started with steak and eggs and of course vodka and OJ. After chilling out we headed to our event…which was not worth it so not going to waste your time; let me just say it was a major disappointment.
Dinner was Sunday Super at Public, what a gem! I loved that place, so unique and food was amazing. 5 courses for $50.00 per person, the menu started with polenta crusted fried oyster in top on a toast point, could have eaten a dozen! Next came the smoky spicy tomato bisque, great again, then the squash flan topped with cauliflower salsa, I loved the crunch the salsa gave to flan perfect balance, then came the Prawns in a concord grape sauce, perfectly cooked and I thought the sauce would be too sweet and over power the gentle prawns, but it really enhanced them, then came the spice cake with brown butter caramel icing, again everything was perfectly balanced and the flavors were super! I highly suggest anyone to visit Public, Chef Farmerie has a winner there!
Monday before catching the place we hit Sammy’s Noodle Shop on 6th, what a find, the portions are huge, family style, luckily I seen some food come out before ordering and suggested that we share, thank goodness I did. We ordered the Pan fried Noodles with seafood (in a lobster sauce) and steamed pork and shrimp dim sum, the food came out quick, hot and very very good, all the seafood cooked perfectly ample amounts of scallops, shrimp, squid, and white fish all cooked perfectly, nothing over cooked…LOVE IT.
What a city, so much to eat, so little time! I wish I had more pictures to share, but I had just purchased the camera and did not know how to work it very well. There is always next year!
Even thought we did this trip in early October I wanted to post the Halloween goodies first… I hope you enjoy reading! Gee I hope my trainer doesn't see this, she might kick my butt even harder!
Thursday October 8th
After arriving Thursday we stored out bags and off to find a great little lunch spot and we did, called Noodle Bar a small little place, not a lot of sitting room, but we did not mind waiting. When we sat down we were given a regular menu and an insane lunch special menu, choice of a noodle, 2 small egg rolls and a salad for $7.95, I opted for the Pad Thai noodles with beef and the hubby opted for Fried Flounder over pan fried noodles, which was pretty spectacular, this fish was perfectly cooked. I love a good Pad Thai, but this was a great Pad Thai, some places have a tendency to go towards a heavy peanut butter flavor, not this one, it had that tad bit of sour note that I love in Pad Thai, so after 2 glasses of wine and one sake our bill with tip was $35.00!
That evening was the Chelsea After Dark event, we arrived an hour early and thank goodness we did, the line was long then, but after being there for 30 minutes it was down and around the block. 9.00 PM they opened the flood gates and let everyone in, the first booth was Sandra Lee (from the food Network) which everyone flocked to, so we by-pasted. Next stop Guy Fierie, when you first walked in the room it was like walking into a Rock N Roll Club, loud and loud again! There he was…Guy standing in the middle greeting selected people. As we walked past I was able to snap a couple pictures, then over to the bar, all they had was rum, I have one rule, rum makes me dumb, so we grabbed a couple of pulled pork sandwiched and off to the next area, which BTW the pulled pork sandwiches, I really have had better, I am not knocking Guy, but sorry Guy, I have had better, hell I’ve made better. There was a lot to see so off we went to check out the rest of the event.Now there was wine bars set everywhere, so we had no issues with finding wine nor did we have issues with finding food since every outlet had a food station. First stop, I have to give an awesome shout out to The Green Table, one of my favs, they had goat cheese and bacon tarts with a watermelon gazpacho, they had me at Goat Cheese!
On to The Lobster Place, they had some rocking fresh oysters, you could taste the natural brine, they were so fresh and so amazing, I got back in line for a second helping! As I stood in line for the oysters hubby stood in the for the lobster bisque and scallop and bacon chowder, which won me over. The base was not too thick and right amount of smoothness; the faint hint of bacon was the back note and did not over power the scallops, which were perfectly done and sweet. I could have bathed in that chowder. On to find some more wine and food, next stop was a great little sandy shop with mini classic Ruben’s. Next stop the Bowery Kitchen shop, which had some rockin’ wraps. As we walked alo
ng we enjoyed the rest of the stores, food, wine, music, decorations and excitement the evening was offering. Then all of a sudden who else do we hear yelling "CHOCOLATE"…Jacque Torres , the chocolate master himself, he handed me a chocolate laced with Cayenne pepper, how amazing that one tiny piece of chocolate was, you had the fant hit of heat right at the very end! He was fun!We walked that hall 3 or 4 times that evening and on last pass towards the end of the evening was the highlight of the evening maybe even the trip, who stood before us, but none other than Jeffery Stinegarden, who was super cool to talk to and to mention a little happy (you get my drift) And Chef Amanda Freitag… GO TEAM FREITAG….And yes Jeffery I mentioned to Bob Tuschman that you are NOT too hard on the chefs. What an amazing evening.
Friday October 9th
Friday was our free day, nothing planed and nothing booked for the Food and Wine Festival, so we headed out got a bagel with lox (breakfast of champions!) and off to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Annex, which was free admission that day to pay tribute to John Lennon’s birthday, he would have been 69 years old. The Hall of Fame itself was exceptionally done, wish I had pictures, but we were not allowed to take pictures, after walking through and listening to decades of great rock n roll, we came to the tribute of John Lennon, I have to say I did in fact shed a few tears in that room, an amazing man taken to soon. As Yoko said, “When he left that morning he was a man who had everything, he returned to me in a brown bag” his remains were never opened by Yoko and now are part of the Rock N Roll Annex, along with his blood splattered glasses. Yoko took the most disturbing picture, his glasses covered in blood splatter; the picture was later used as an awareness poster regarding hand guns in the US.
Enough I am starting to cry just rethinking it all. Rest in Peace John!
Off to lunch we go…where you ask, none other than Morimoto’s! We had the most incredible meal there, starting with a wasabi infused vodka, sake martini garnished with a cucumber – YUM! Then on to rock shrimp appetizer and a steamed scallop appetizer, we ordered two because we thought the portions were going to small, we thought wrong, but I am glad the shrimp was a big portion, it was so crispy on the outside with still leaving the shrimp sweet and tender on the inside and the sauce, there were 2 different sauces, and hell if I can remember them, but I could have sat there and ate that dish all day. The scallops were also perfection, sweet and fresh, we watched them shuck them fresh. They were simply prepared by steaming and placed on top of bok choy. Then we dug into 3 rolls, we ordered a soft shell crab roll, salmon skin roll and spicy yellowtail roll, which all were amazing, the salmon skin roll was done differently then what I am accustomed to but who cares, it was heaven, it was better than what I am accustomed to, it had this wonder light char flavor, we think the skin and some meat on the skin was grilled, but WOW it was wonderful and melted in my mouth. I also ordered sashimi Kobe beef and abalone. Let me start with Kobe, the fat was so well marbled that the minute it touched my tongue I could actually feel it melting away leaving a beef flavor that was so mild and yet so intense at the same time it was insane! Abalone has a tendency to be a bit chewy, however, this was tender and tasting it you could taste the ocean, so fresh, so good!
That evening we had reservations at Craft, a Tom Collico restaurant. Two amazing restaurants in one day, life is good! We started with cocktails at the bar, naturally and then after 15 minutes we were seated. The menus we were handed explained nothing how the food was prepared, if you wanted to know you had to ask. I loved the concept that all meals are served towards the middle of the table encouraging everyone to share. After reviewing the menu carefully I decided on the Crispy Bacon appetizer and the roasted Maine Lobster for a main and the corn and bacon risotto for a side. The bacon came out in 3 big blocks, first they were braised then quickly deep fried to get a nice crunch on the top and served with pickled watermelon rind, my only complaint would be not enough rind, the pickled rind was superb and balanced well against the fat of the bacon, as I took my first bite my tasted buds stood on end, the bacon fat just melted away leaving this crunch from the crackling I just wanted to scream ….”bring me 4 more orders please”. Then on to the roasted lobster, it was beautiful. Can a dish be beautiful? Yes, it can, it was a whole sweet Maine lobster, removed from the shell and roasted (thank you, no mess) and no ordinary butter here, no way, I got “lobster butter” it was much lighter than regular butter and so much more flavor, like a light lobster bisque butter. Then on to the risotto, which turned out to be the highlight of the meal, it surpassed the lobster and I am a lobster girl! It was beyond belief, it had the perfect sweet flavor of the corn and smokiness of the bacon, creamy without being grossly full of cream it was not thick at all, it was perfect, you could taste the crispness of the corn and pared with the bacon, a match made in heaven, even garnished with a strip of bacon, I would have to say it is the BEST risotto I have ever had.
The hubby ordered, chanterelles with peaky toe crab served with a poached egg, it was served in a cream sauce which I thought it overpowered the crab, as my husband pierced the egg to allow the yolk to run, we both noticed the white of the egg was still really runny, and if there is one thing Chef Chillico is stern about is eggs have to be cooked, he would have been upset over that egg. For his main he ordered the Wild Salmon, the reason he ordered the Salmon was the wild caught factor and he said he tasted a major difference between farmed and wild, I took his word on it because he would not share. His side was the garlic risotto, well we almost got into to a heated debate over which risotto was better, the corn and bacon or the garlic, the garlic was just as superior same concept, rich and creamy full of garlic flavor, but like I told him anything with bacon is better!
I was told when you go to Craft you must try the donuts, well I am not one for sweets, I would rather have a cheese plate than sweets, well I had the donuts because I gave a promise I would. I am so glad I gave that promise, hubby and I shared the spiced donuts with a chocolate sauce and a pear sauce (I think it was pear) I have never tasted donuts so light and airy, those donuts are cloud 9! Oh and when you are leaving Craft they had you a little to go bag with a muffin in it, ours was pumpkin, so moist, so tasty, so smart…You went to bed wondering what that muffin was going to taste like and you woke up thinking of Craft and that darn muffin!
Saturday October 10th
Lunch was so New York! Pizza at The Original Famous Ray’s on 8th and Broadway, now this is the way pizza is suppose to be done. Sausage and pepperoni with mushrooms, the grease sliding down my hand as I folded it and devoured it!
Off to Tour de Beef, what is that you ask? Well it was a tour of the largest and oldest meat distributor in NY, DeBraggas, where they explained in great detail the difference in dry aging and wet aging. Mond you we were standing in the cooler with over a million dollars worth of dry aged beef and they dry age steaks for almost top restaurant in the city. So just in case you ever come across dry age steaks you want to purchase one, just remember no less than 28 days and no more than 45 days aged, but also remember they are more expensive, no bargains here. But oh so well worth it.
Dinner was an enjoyable find, we were an hour early for the Mario Batali Times Talk Event, so we found a great little place right next-door called MONTENAPO (250 West 41st St.) being a bit hungry we decided on 2 appetizers, seared scallops topped with shaved truffles and a cheese plate. I will eat anything with truffles! Perfectly seared scallops, served on top of sunchoke puree and topped with shaved black truffles…let me see if I can explain this, you first get this earthy note from the truffle and for some reason I think it is going to overpower the buttery, sweet subtleness of the scallop, then you get this creamy sunchoke puree that again takes off the charts due to sunchoke back notes like celery, nut and potato. Now on to the cheese plate, yes, a simple cheese plate was that good, the presentation was just classy and the cheeses were divine, served with topping like caramelized onions, honey and marmalade! So as we left to attend the event they said “hope to see you soon” my husband turned and said “sooner than you think”.Right after the event we went right back and had dinner! I started with a marinated thick slice of eggplant that had this smooth goat cheese mouse on top and taffiasche olives if you are an eggplant lover like me you need this dish, at first I thought the marinade was too much then I had a bite with the mouse, well that is when it all came together, the tartness of the mouse balanced the marinade, then on to the mixed mushroom fettuccini, if you love mushrooms this is the pasta for you, not creamy at all, which I love, you could taste each mushroom, the meatiness of the portobella, smokiness of the shitake, mild almost sweetness of the oyster, the earthliness (almost truffle like) of the morels and the richness and meatiness of the porcini all tossed in a veal reduction and topped with parmesan cheese. I was in mushroom heaven! Then the husband orders a really nice salad of arugula, radicchio, trevisana, endive topped with parmesan cheese, tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette, yummy and his main course…slow roasted GOAT, I took his word that is was amazing as he claimed it was, it was falling off the bone so it had to be super tender. This place was truly a find!
Sunday October 11th
Off to Russ and Daughters for a bagel and lox for the hubby and a bagel with a schemer of caviar cream cheese – that was super good! A New York Icon!
Well after walking off our bagels and it time to make our way to the final and last event we were going to the Cheese and Olive Oil tasting at Fig and Olive, we headed towards the meatpacking district to grab some brunch, I love NY style of brunch, there is no buffet, going and eating as much as possibly can in one sitting. It is more of an event, restaurants there on Saturday and Sundays have one menu BRUNCH, it is all ala carte. So we headed to Pastis for brunch, what a lovely setting, we were seated outside; the sun was out there was crispness in the air and the hussle and bussle of the meatpacking district. I had two eggs perfectly poached on top of creamy polenta topped with sautéed roasted peppers and prosciutto with vodka and OJ, got to get the juice in! The hubby started with steak and eggs and of course vodka and OJ. After chilling out we headed to our event…which was not worth it so not going to waste your time; let me just say it was a major disappointment.
Dinner was Sunday Super at Public, what a gem! I loved that place, so unique and food was amazing. 5 courses for $50.00 per person, the menu started with polenta crusted fried oyster in top on a toast point, could have eaten a dozen! Next came the smoky spicy tomato bisque, great again, then the squash flan topped with cauliflower salsa, I loved the crunch the salsa gave to flan perfect balance, then came the Prawns in a concord grape sauce, perfectly cooked and I thought the sauce would be too sweet and over power the gentle prawns, but it really enhanced them, then came the spice cake with brown butter caramel icing, again everything was perfectly balanced and the flavors were super! I highly suggest anyone to visit Public, Chef Farmerie has a winner there!
Monday before catching the place we hit Sammy’s Noodle Shop on 6th, what a find, the portions are huge, family style, luckily I seen some food come out before ordering and suggested that we share, thank goodness I did. We ordered the Pan fried Noodles with seafood (in a lobster sauce) and steamed pork and shrimp dim sum, the food came out quick, hot and very very good, all the seafood cooked perfectly ample amounts of scallops, shrimp, squid, and white fish all cooked perfectly, nothing over cooked…LOVE IT.
What a city, so much to eat, so little time! I wish I had more pictures to share, but I had just purchased the camera and did not know how to work it very well. There is always next year!
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