23 Thursday Aug 2012
Here is a sneak peek at what M. Wells Dinette could be serving when it opens at MoMA PS1 next month. Whipped butter on bread with caviar and flowers remind me of the бутерброд I ate in Ukraine. I like how it’s plated on a cafeteria tray.
05 Sunday Aug 2012
The minced pork over rice was about $5 and came with a delicious tea egg.
The oyster pancake was full of juicy oysters. The batter was crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. I loved it.
I’m not gonna lie — I make better duck tongues. When I get back to New York I’m going to defrost the ones I have in the freezer and dazzle myself.
The beef noodle soup was “ok”. The broth was “fine” but the beef was too “chewy”, according to someone in the know.
My favorite part was the pork and chive soup dumplings. I learned that these xiǎolóngbāo (小笼包) require cubes of broth jelly. The cubes are wrapped up with the filling and, when steamed, fill the pouches with a delicious soup. I had these dumpling for the first time at Din Tai Fung in Tokyo. I could eat them every day for the rest of my life.
Dumpling Cafe
695 Washington Street
Boston MA 02111
(617) 338-8858
UPDATE: There is a Din Tai Fung in Seattle! I’m going on Thursday!
03 Friday Aug 2012
Posted in celebrations, fruit, sweets
Tags
anniversary, ganache, ice cream, Marjoram, recipe, strawberry
For my grandparents’ 60th anniversary I made a brownie-torte with chocolate ganache and strawberries. The ganache was just heavy cream, bittersweet chocolate and butter melted in a bain-marie. It was kind of amazing.
The strawberry marjoram ice cream was also a success! I love the astringent brightness that the marjoram imparted. It may have been the camphor or pinene found in its oils.
It was the chocolatiest dessert I had ever tasted in my life and I just had another slice for breakfast because it was that good!
26 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted in Asian, bucket list, Japanese, meat
Tags
canned whale, contraband, 築地市場, Japanese, Nissin foods, Tsukiji, Whale
This can of stewed whale meat that I bought at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo has been sitting in my cupboard for almost four months. So often I buy special things and don’t use them because I want to wait for a “special occasion”. I don’t know what came over me yesterday but, even though it was just a regular old Wednesday afternoon, I decided to open the can of whale!
I am very happy to report that there was also a little bit of blubber mixed in with the meat. I wish I had another can because it was delicious! Reminded me of Бефстроганов, beef Stroganoff.
25 Wednesday Jul 2012
Tags
azahar, fleur d'oranger, Ladurée, Marshmallows, orange blossom water, oranger, recipe, smitten kitchen, ماء الزهر
I just finished a batch of orange blossom marshmallows. They were so easy to make. I just used a smitten kitten recipe.
The worst part was waiting for the sugar mixture to get to 240 degrees.
I am going to make another batch this afternoon of plain vanilla ones, just have to get some vanilla beans first.
I am so excited about all the cookie cutter shapes I’m going to use to make cute marshmallows cut outs!
I used to think Ladurée’s guimauve macaron filling was gross but now that I know what goes into making a marshmallow, I kind of love the idea of the incroyable macarons!
25 Wednesday Jul 2012
23 Monday Jul 2012
Tags
berries, Breakneck, Breakneck Ridge, hiking, Hudson River Valley, mountain climbing, vegan, wineberries
While hiking in the Hudson River Valley, just an hour outside of New York City, we came across few wild wineberry bushes. Wineberries are a species of raspberry with origins in eastern Asia. They have very large, hairy calices, as you can see in the photo. A man we met on the trail told us that these berries were once used to make wine, since grapes do not grow well in this region.
They were a little bit bitter — I wonder if they weren’t quite ripe yet.
Here is a view of the Hudson River looking south from one of the white Breakneck Ridge trails.
22 Sunday Jul 2012
Tags
Does anyone know where I can find this fruit in New York?
21 Saturday Jul 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
Dennis Rodman met his father for the first time recently after 42 years of separation. Philander Rodman, Jr. has been living in the Philippines for decades and runs a restaurant in Angeles called Rodman’s Rainbow Obamaburger. The buns are dyed red, green, and yellow.
Here is a photo of one of the burgers from WanderingBlindly.com.
Here’s a shot of the menu.
21 Saturday Jul 2012
Shrimp tacos with mango and cucumber at Nixtamal in Corona, Queens ($3/taco)
Chongos zamoranos is a sweet curd dessert from Zamora in Michoacán, Mexico.
Nixtamal provides tortillas to many restaurants in New York such as La Esquina, Choza Taquería, and even Nobu. The owners, Shauna Page and Fernando Ruiz, make their own corn masa using a method called nixtamalization. The corn is soaked in mineral lime, which increases its nutritional value, allows it to be more easily ground, kills fungus, and improves flavor. In front of Nixtamal there are a few stalks of corn growing in a planter.
Chinook Olive 