New York 2009

New York. Ahhhh… the city I love. I just can’t get enough of this place. I went in college with my family (2002 or 2003): again in fall of 2007 with friends, and most recently in late August of this year. This trip was different because I was traveling there alone. I had about 24 hours in the city before I met up with The Boy and our two other guy friends. This might be scary to some people, but honestly, I LOVED traveling alone. I mentioned on twitter, and not one but TWO of my food blog friends offered to meet up with me! It was cool to put faces to these sweet ladies blogs. I’d like to share with you a few of the places I went. These are all places I will 100% recommend if you’re ever in NYC.

Think Coffee
1 Bleecker St.
(Northwest corner of Bowery and Bleecker)

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of this place, because as I pulled out my camera to take some shots, I realized I didn’t have the battery! My latte here was exceptional (perhaps because it was my first caffeine of the day because I thought I might *actually* sleep on the plane, HA), as was my tomato zucchini soup. Oh, and I sat literally a foot and a half away from this guy. Once I realized I had forgotten my battery, I went back to the hotel, then I was off to the West Village.

Sweet Revenge
62 Carmine Street
(West Village)

Sweet Revenge was recommended to me by a super nice, and talented blogger, Kristina of the Chocolate & Peanut Butter Gallery. I have to say, out of all the places I went, this *might* be my favorite. (I actually am so indecisive I hate the word favorite) Sweet Revenge is a cupcake shop right after my own heart. What sets it apart from other cupcake shops is, it’s not just about cupcakes. It’s a cafe, where you can get a sandwich, and they have a very nice selection of beers & wine. It’s here I met up with Cathy of Cathy’s Kitchen Journey’s.

She was super duper sweet, and didn’t mind that I rambled on & on and talked her head off. We decided to take advantage of the Happy Hour specials. I got a glass of wine and a cupcake for $10, and she got a glass of sangria and a cupcake.

Cathy chose the Sweet Revenge cupcake, which is the shop’s namesake. It was a peanut butter cupcake with ganache filling, and peanut butter buttercream. I chose the Bird of Paradise which was a lime chiffon cake with mango buttercream, and lime zest. We cut them in half and shared! They were both super moist. Mine had the perfect citrus taste, and the mango buttercream was unlike anything I’ve ever had! I also was surprised that the peanut butter buttercream on hers used crunchy peanut butter. It was equally tasty! Yum! I’d love to go back next time I’m in New York!

Otto
1 5th Ave
(Greenwich Village)

After the cupcake at Sweet Revenge, I did a lot of walking and exploring. Then, I met up with Maris of In Good Taste. We walked around and decided where to eat (really I made her pick the place, because I didn’t have a CLUE about what was good in the area). We ended up at Otto where we stalked and scored a spot at the bar. Otto, I later found out, is a Mario Batali restaurant. It’s part wine bar, part restaurant. Our bartender/waiter kept making us pronounce what we wanted to order, and let’s just say a KY accent doesn’t do Italian so well. I ordered red wine (I honestly can’t for the life of me remember what I ordered and their wine list is HUGE) and the Fennel & Bottarga pizza that had tomato, raw fennel, bottarga, pecorino, and mozzarella. Double and triple yum. Maris and I are just months away from each other in age, and found we had a lot in common. We chatted for a couple hours. Unfortunately I didn’t get ANY photos of the restaurant, or any pictures of us. But, I’m not sure I would of LIKED a picture of us, because at that point I’d only had 1.5 hours of sleep in 32 hours, and it had rained on us a little as we were walking around. I did manage to take a iPhone photo though. The great thing was, I was only a couple blocks from the hotel. It was around 11pm and I made it back to the hotel just fine, the area felt really safe, and I literally CRASHED fast asleep.

Lovely iPhone photo isn’t it?

Murray’s Bagels
500 Ave of the Americas

I didn’t want to set an alarm because I wanted to let my body sleep. I don’t know if it was the loud neighbors that were just coming in for the night, or the fact that I had probably just finished a sleep cycle, but I woke up at 3am (most sleep cycles are around 4 hours, and now that I work this crazy work schedule, I often sleep in 4 hour shifts). Luckily I managed to go back to sleep, and woke up again at 7am. I decided rather than trying to sleep more, I should go out and explore the city that never sleeps! Last time I was in NYC, I specifically remembered I wanted to eat a “real” New York bagel. Supposedly there are two major kinds, an H&H bagel, and a bagel from Murray’s. Last time I know I ate an H&H bagel, so this time I decided to try one from Murray’s. Luckily it was nearby in the West Village/Greenwich Village area. I chose a whole wheat bagel and another fabulous latte. A real NY bagel isn’t toasted. Just the process of cooking it in the water boil makes the edges tough & have a “bite”, but just as promised the inside was softy & chewy. Mine was sandwiched with cream cheese. I enjoyed my breakfast and got to daydream a little what it would be like to live nearby, and be a real New Yorker, and this would be my Saturday routine. One day, maybe one day… Don’t ask me to compare H&H and Murray’s because, honestly it was nearly 2 years ago I had an H&H bagel, so I can’t remember that far back! But I will say I would recommend Murray’s any day.

I decided to take the subway up to Central Park and just walk around and do some exploring while I had a little more time alone. Though it was grey, and it sprinkled a bit here and there, it was still to me, a beautiful New York day. I walked for a couple more hours, just exploring different neighborhoods. I could literally eat this city up. After taking my time I made it back to the hotel to shower because the boys were going to be arriving in the city soon!

Baoguette Cafe
37 St. Mark’s Place (between 2nd Ave & 1st Ave)
(East Village)

After I showered I still had some time to grab a bite to eat for lunch. I did a quick web search, and discovered via Yelp, there was a great affordable spot on the very same block as my hotel. Baoguette Cafe had sandwiches, soup bowls, and salads, but most important COFFEE. I got a Vietnamese iced coffee. I think the secret is, they use sweetened condensed milk. Whatever it is, it was magically delicious. This just set me up for a wonderful lunch. I ordered the BBQ Chicken Vermicelli Noodle Bowl, with lettuce, herbs, & peanuts. Yet another NYC meal that didn’t disappoint, and wasn’t bad on the budget at all!

Caracas
93 1/2 E 7th St
(East Village)

I met up with the boys, we did some shopping and exploring and decided to eat dinner at a place I discovered while searching the web. Caracas is an arepa bar within walking distance of our hotel, and gave us the chance to explore our area a little more. An arepa is a lot like a pita, but it’s made from cornmeal. We walked up, and there was quite a crowd outside. I thought, it was worth a shot to at least see what the wait was. For some reason, he seated us right away! It was a tiny restaurant, and packed to the brim. We ordered some guacamole; some Yoyos – fried sweet plantain balls stuffed with white cheese; and Tajadas – fried sweet plantains with aged cheese; and then we all ordered some arepas. I really enjoyed the appetizers, and I enjoyed the arepa, I just wasn’t a fan of the filling I chose to go inside my arepa. I got the Reina Pepiada – chunky chicken and avocado mix salad; but it felt too much like just straight up guacamole, which I’d ate a LOT of as an appetizer. I’d love the opportunity to go back, and get a different one. I still definitely recommend this restaurant.

Levain Bakery
167 W 74th St (between Amsterdam Ave & Columbus Ave)
(Upper West Side)

Sunday I made a point to make it up to the Upper West Side. I needed to bring a treat back to my friends. As much as I’d love to bring them a cupcake, I wasn’t going back into work until Tuesday, and I didn’t think a cupcake would taste good if I waited that long, so decided on the famed Levain Bakery. I’ll admit, I was like “What’s the big dang deal with this cookie? It’s huge, blah blah blah.”

Ok. Everything said about this cookie is true. It totally lives up to the hype. Holy cow this cookie was awesome! I got two chocolate walnut (the famous version), a dark chocolate with peanut butter chips, and an oatmeal raisin. The Boy & I spent TWO days eating the peanut dark chocolate with peanut butter chips, and I gave the other three away. Not to mention these cookies were FRESHER than fresh. WOW. I noticed they were pulling trays out of the oven as soon as I walked in. My cookies were STILL WARM when I got them!

I swear if I look at this photo and then close my eyes, I can ALMOST smell the cookies again!

Stand
24 East 12th Street
(Greenwich Village)

And finally, our last bite to eat in New York City, was a place I’ve been DREAMING of going to ever since the Amateur Gourmet posted about the Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake. This was located in Greenwich Village, and wasn’t far from our hotel either, and it was especially close to the Union Square shopping area. I think the guys weren’t so sure about another place I was dragging them to. They were expecting something weird. But once they got there and realized it was a BURGER AND FRIES joint they were actually kind of excited. I was excited when I discovered the sweet potatoes fries! Yum Yum Yum.

This place definitely lived up to the hype! I wanted to save room for the famed milkshake, so I ate half my burger and fries and got a box for the rest. I asked our waitress what she thought of the Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake, and she said that she didn’t like marshmallows (WTF?!?!) but everyone that orders it loves it. So I ordered it, requesting it in a to-go cup, because surely I couldn’t drink it all while sitting there. But I did. I drank it ALL while sitting there. And… I loved it. It was a-mazing. The waitress told me it was made with Toasted Marshmallow Gelato, but just today I discovered this Gourmet article that says otherwise. So perhaps there could be a homemade version in my future!

Alright… *WHEW* I can’t believe it’s taken me nearly a MONTH to write up this post about the city I love. As you can tell I definitely ate my way through it! 😀 One of the things I LOVE about New York City is, all the walking and exploring I can do on foot. I really let myself relax a little on worrying about calories. With all the walking I was doing, there’s not doubt I burned it all off! Perhaps my lattes were so delicious in while in New York because I didn’t order them with skim milk. 😉 If you’ve never been to New York, I highly suggest you go at least once in your life. And please, please, do me a favor, DON’T EAT AT OLIVE GARDEN IN TIMES SQUARE! Haha.. That’s always a running joke with me. I always ask why would you want to eat somewhere you can eat at home, when you are in the city with the greatest restaurants? You don’t have to spend a lot of money all the time to eat well. As you can tell we ate at some great places, that didn’t break the bank. If you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone, there’s a Yelp app that will help you find places to eat, (and a NYC Subway Map app, and Google Maps to help you get there, ;D). Or, just open your eyes and look around. *sigh* I’m already dreaming of my next trip there. Kalena Kay, you in?

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Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

The weekend is when I do my baking, and as this past weekend rolled around it was no different. I got the itch. The baking itch. I began to browse recipes when I came across this recipe on Martha Stewart’s website. I recognized it was from the cookbook Baked, which I previously checked out from the library a while back, drooled over, and then photocopied some of the recipes. This was one of the ones I photocopied! (Oh, wait, is that illegal?) After thinking more about this recipe, I was pretty sure one of the blogs I read had made them too. Sure enough, I found it on Peabody’s blog (just try going there and not drooling, I DARE YA!). I’m VERY glad I remembered Peabody’s because she adapted the frosting recipe, and then I adapted it a bit more.

Now, yall know I love pumpkin ANYTHING (including shampoo and handsoap!). And these whoopie pies rank right up there with the best of the pumpkin treats. As my first venture into whoopie pies I’m now hooked. I love these little handheld treats. They are like a cross between cupcakes and cookies. They are less crumbly than cupcakes, and totally handheld without wrappers. They have FROSTING sandwiched between! Mmm mmm… The pumpkin flavor isn’t overwhelming. The Boy isn’t a pumpkin fan, but managed to eat 4 the first day. His comment was that they tasted more like gingerbread. I brought them into both his work, and my work, and they were rather well received!

I decided to try to make these a *touch* healthier, and I subbed 1 cup of all purpose flour for white whole wheat flour. I honestly don’t think you could tell at all. In fact, I’d be curious to see how they taste if you up the ante even more. Also, Peabody adapted the original cream cheese frosting, into a maple cream cheese frosting. I recommend that option 1000%. The maple flavor cuts the sweetness of the frosting, and is the perfect accompaniment to the pumpkin. My adaption to that was to add freshly ground cinnamon. I tasted it before and after I added the cinnamon, and I definitely prefer it with! This frosting was truly amazing. I’d love to pair it with another cake flavor in the future!

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Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

from Baked, as seen on Martha Stewart
Frosting slightly adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, originally adapted from Baked

Ingredients:

WHOOPIE PIES:
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup white whole wheat, and 2 cups all-purpose)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cloves
2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FROSTING:
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp freshly ground cinnamon

Directions:

WHOOPIE PIES:
Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.

FROSTING:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth with no visible lumps. Add the cream cheese an beat until combined.

Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add cinnamon. Be careful no to overbeat the filling, or it will lose structure.

To assemble:
Turn half the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe filling (about a TBSP) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spread to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoppie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.

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Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Martini

I’m not sure I have the vocabulary to describe how much I loved this drink. If you are anything like me, and counted down until the day Starbucks began serving their Pumpkin Spice Latte (Sept 1, in case you were wondering); and you like a good cocktail, YOU.WILL.LOVE.THIS.DRINK.
It was a Friday night, and I felt like making a nice cocktail. I opened up my liquor cabinet and the first thing that caught my eye was the vanilla vodka. I began to scour the cabinets for what to mix with it. To the left was pumpkin liqueur I had used on pumpkin martinis last year (good, but not great), and hidden in the back was Starbucks Cream Liqueur. Like all great ideas, this one hit me in an instant, and my mind quickly formed this drink. I just knew I had to make it. I love “concocting” cocktails, so I just guessed at how much of each ingredient I needed to make a drink to my liking. I’m a girl that can handle, and actually welcome the taste of alcohol. I don’t want a drink that’s straight up alcohol, but I don’t want a sugary sweet mess. I think this drink really draws the line right in the middle of the road, and would appeal to most adult tastes. (Yes, ADULT. Kids, don’t drink till you’re 21.) You could easily adjust the recipe by adding more milk and/or less vodka if you find it too strong.

My trusted martini shaker looks just like this one. I used the cap to measure my ingredients. 1 capful equals “1 part”. This is the easiest way to make them, in my opinion, because if you want to make a double batch of something, or more, it makes for easy conversion.

When I took my first sip, my tastebuds were quickly met with the exact flavor I was hoping for. It literally tasted like a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, but with alcohol. To me, that is a very, very good thing! It was creamy, & smooth, with the signature pumpkin flavor, spice, and even color. Wow… my mouth is watering just thinking about it again.

**2011 Update** They may have stopped producing the Starbucks Cream Liqueur, so any coffee cream liqueur will do, such as Kahlua, etc.

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Pumpkin Spice Latte Martini

serves 1

Ingredients:

1 1/2 parts vanilla vodka
1 part pumpkin liqueur
1 part Starbucks Cream liqueur
1 part milk
dash of pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except pumpkin pie spice in martini shaker over ice. Shake well and strain into martini glass. Sprinkle with Pumpkin Pie Spice. Serve immediately & enjoy.

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Braised Mediterranean Chicken with Polenta

As I preached about in my Blogiversary post, I think it’s important to step outside of your comfort zone in the kitchen. I love trying new things. One thing I’ve never cooked, and only ate in restaurants a few times, is polenta. When flipping through my newest issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food the very first recipe was this one. I immediately folded the corner over because I saw it included cherry tomatoes and zucchini. It just so happened I had zucchini in my CSA share, and my friend Beth brought me a whole pint of cherry tomatoes from her sister’s garden in KY (a great state by the way). As I finished reading the recipe, I realized I actually had every single ingredient in my kitchen.

This meal came together in under an hour, and was very easy, as are most of the recipes in Everyday Food. And the flavors really balanced and complimented each other just perfectly. I was afraid this might be too heavy of a meal, but it was actually hearty and filling, without weighing you down. It was a great way to take advantage of this seasonal produce. And, it gave me another use for my cornmeal, because I don’t batter and fry with it too often! I can’t find this recipe on the website, so that’s why I can’t link to it.

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Braised Mediterranean Chicken with Polenta

Martha Stewart Everyday Food - Sept 2009

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
8 chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds total)
course salt and ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved if large
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 Tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions:

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in two batches, cook chicken until browned on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate. Pour off all but 1 Tablespoon fat and return pot to heat.

Add garlic, tomatoes, and oregano; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine and cook, scraping up browned bits, until almost evaporated, about 1 minute. Add broth; return chicken, skin side up, to pot. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, cover and cook 15 minutes. (*At this point begin the polenta.) Add zucchini to chicken; season with salt and pepper. Cover; simmer until chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in lemon juice.

To prepare polenta: In a large saucepan, combine 4 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Whisking constantly, slowly add cornmeal. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, whisking frequently, until polenta has thickened, 20 to 25 minutes. Whisk in butter. Serve chicken and vegetables over polenta.

Serves 4; Per Serving: 556 calories; 30.1g fat (9.9g sat fat); 36.9g protein; 32.8g carb; 3.6g fiber

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