NYC - Where Food and People Watching Reach A Whole New Level

Meagan, Harry and I on the Staten Island Ferry. Lady
Liberty in the background. 

     Meagan is great at including fun things in her life. I often go day to day just trying to get through it and don't have events that I generally look forward to. Well... that makes me sound lame and pathetic. But between rowing, work and trying to pack everything to do it all again the next day, it's hard. However, it works for me, but it's nice to have someone to remind you to enjoy things and stop to smell the roses once in a while.
     Either way, for the long MLK weekend we decided to book a trip to New York City. Since Harrison lives on Long Island and bus tickets are pretty cheap, we figured all we'd need to pay for is transportation and food. There are far too many stories from this weekend that are fit for the big screen, and I'm not about to go into them all. So instead, I'll drool a little more over the foods we ate. I must preface this with the fact that I've got a weigh-in coming up, and I didn't want to do my body damage this weekend, so I tried to not go crazy.

Stella's Pizzeria & Restaurant- Bellmore, NY 
http://www.stellaspizzany.com/

   

The best cheese pizza I've ever had. I know
it doesn't look like much, but just trust me. 

      Whenever you hear about the food in New York, you hear about their pizza and bagels. Apparently it's all in the water. Something about the water makes these things better than anywhere else. I won't lie... I had a hard time believing this. The first place we went as soon as Harrison picked us up from the bus station was a pizza place called Stella's PIzzeria. It's his favorite and apparently has the best pizza. Now, I'm not generally a fan of cheese pizza. I like much more excitement on my pizza. I'm also not generally a fan of thin crust pizza. It's thin and flimsy and gets soggy way too easily. However, the thin crust cheese pizza I've had before doesn't come near this thing crust cheese pizza from Stella's. It was perfect! Yes, the crust was thin, but it was crisp on the bottom in a way I've never seen before. Somehow the very bottom layer of the crust was browned and harder so it held the pizza together. Yet there was a thin layer of crust just above that outer shell that was still soft like a standard pizza crust. And the cheese ... oooooooh the cheese was so gooey, chewy and not overly greasy. Even the sauce was great. There wasn't so much that it was pouring out, and it was perfectly sweet but didn't dominate in flavor over the cheese. I totally forgot about the whole "fold the pizza as you eat it" method until I was nearly done, so clearly that means a return trip is in order. I also ordered a slice of their big thick chicken and broccoli pizza and a delicious garlic knot. The pizza was absolutely loaded with huge pieces of chicken, large garlic cloves and tons of broccoli. I don't think this was traditional New York style pizza, but it was delicious none the less.

John Moore's Deli - Bellmore, NY

Pastrami, Egg and Cheese 

http://johnmooresdeli.net/

     The next place we went for food was John Moore's deli off Merrick St. by Harrison's house. They had
everything! Tons of meats and interesting sandwich combinations. It was just this tiny little deli with tons of customers shuffling in and out. I got a pastrami, egg and cheese on a hoagie roll with poppy seeds. It was perfect. I absolutely love pastrami, and it was sliced nice and thin just like I like it. The eggs were light and fluffy, and although the cheese was american cheese, I felt like it was all part of the experience. Yea, I probably would've liked some other kind of unprocessed cheese better, but it's like getting tacos at some restaurant in the hills of Tuscany. You just don't do it.  The roll was super soft and fluffy and everything was warm. Perfect on a chilly morning on the coast.




Katz's Delicatessen - New York, NY
http://katzsdelicatessen.com/

Katz's Reuben with Corned Beef, Matzo Ball Soup and Pickles. Mmmm!

     The week before we went to New York, I was watching the Food Network on my lunch break at work and Adam Richmond from Man vs Food went to Katz's Delicatessen in New York's lower east side (this clip right here). Katz's has been open since 1888 and considers itself New York's oldest deli. It was the description of their briskets and their corned beef sandwich that convinced me that I needed to find this place during our trip. 10,000 pounds of meat in a week? I'm in. As an iconic Jewish deli, everything is served cafeteria style just the way it was years ago.

Just look how beautiful she is (the sandwich).

     One of my favorite things about this place were their "samples." Well... I guess it wasn't really a sample considering you get it after you order, but when you're waiting at the counter and the master sandwich maker is building your sandwich, they cut off a couple pieces of steaming meat and put it on a plate on the counter for you to eat as you wait. The perfect cure to my overwhelming anticipation. I ordered the Reuben with corned beef. They stack rye bread with an outrageous amount of corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut and homemade russian dressing. Where do I even begin?
     Well, I have literally never had better tasting corned beef in my life. This meat melted in my mouth and practically fell apart it was so tender. But it didn't fall apart in a too-dry, overcooked way. It was plenty moist and flavorful with little to not fat. Sometimes corned beef can be extra fatty (in a bad and greasy way), but this wasn't even close. I'm not sure if they use homemade sauerkraut, but it had an awesome crunch. It wasn't too pungent or sour, but it had a light vinegary taste that aided in the flavor and didn't overpower the sandwich as a whole. And I can't say I've ever really had russian dressing that I liked, but this was beyond anything I've had before. It was way less creamy and goopy like what comes out of the bottle. It seemed more like chunks of who knows what (onions?) in a thinner, less unhealthy sauce. It still offered a creamy texture and flavor that went perfectly with the sourness and crunch of the kraut, the warm melty swiss and heaven's salty meat. Ugh I'm salivating just reliving this moment.

He was just too fast.

   
     We also ordered some of their pickles which I believe were homemade too. They had two different flavors (sour and the half sour) that were the perfect finish to the meal. There is no other option but to go back and next time try their pastrami. Or combine the corned beef and pastrami. Oh the possibilities! You should really watch that video I posted above.






Mustang Harry's - New York, NY
http://www.mustangharrys.com/

     After a late late lunch at Katz's, we stopped at Mustang Harry's (funny because we were with Harry) for
dinner before heading home. Mustang Harry's is a sports bar close to Times Square and therefore pretty expensive, so Meagan and I split this beautiful salad. It was a rotisserie chicken salad with mixed greens, sweet corn, baby tomatoes, avocado, and feta cheese in a cilantro lime vinaigrette. I was absolutely in love with the vinaigrette. So light and fresh. Mix that with the sweet corn, avocado and feta and it was all just a genius blend of flavors. I know... not my standard restaurant meal choice, but like I said... I was trying to be careful. Until the next morning...







Town Bagel - Bellmore, NY
http://www.kpsearch.com/df/townbagel/all.asp

    On our last morning in New York, Harry wanted to take us to get bagels. Heck, we wanted Harry to take us to get bagels. I wanted to taste test these bagels and really see what all the hype was about. We went to Town Bagel to get breakfast and maybe a couple bagels to take home. When I walked in, I didn't think I'd be leaving with 14 bagels. Boy was I in for a surprise. They had a bunch of different kinds and a deal that was "buy 12 get 6 free," so I got 12, and Meagan got the other 6. If I recall correctly, I went with cinnamon raisin, pumpernickel, pumpernickel everything, egg everything, whole wheat everything, whole wheat, poppy seed, sesame seed, and plain. But then of course I saw the blueberry after I had already chosen my 12... so I got one more... in addition to my 12 and the whole wheat everything one I got toasted with cream cheese. First of all, I've never had someone put so much cream cheese on a bagel, and I couldn't have been happier. By the time I got to it on the train, the bagel was still plenty warm and crisp and the cream cheese was so soft and warm.
     The star of the show, however, wasn't the toasted bagel with cream cheese. It was the plain bagel. Plain bagels to me are like cheese pizza. Meh. I want more happening. At least that's what I thought until I had this plain bagel. We had to wait because they were just about to come out of the oven (a small price to pay for the magic I was about to experience). I kid you not... I watched the man go into the oven with his big ole spatula thing and pull out our 5 piping hot plain bagels and toss them in our bags. When we got to the car, it was what I went for first because it was so warm, and I didn't want to miss this moment. Man oh man... this plain bagel was the best bagel I have ever had in my entire life. I don't know if it's because I've never had a fresh hot bagel like this before or what, but it blew my mind. The outside had a thin, tough layer with that slightly sticky texture, kind of like a soft pretzel (or a bagel done right). It wasn't too tough, but just a perfect firmness encasing the soft, hot and fluffy center of the bagel. My first bite squished it a little because it was still so fresh,  but it didn't matter. The bottom of the bagel was lightly browned with a touch of corn meal on it and was just a bit thicker with a little more crispness than the other sides of the bagel. I was in disbelief. Yes, that's the word. Utter disbelief. I couldn't believe a) how good a hot bagel was, b) how soft the inside was, c) how perfect the outside layer was, and d) that I felt this way about a plain bagel. It was literally a life changing experience. Never will I ever look at a bagel the same again. Thanks for such a great, short trip Harry!


Chicken Poblano Soup - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

     So I do have one recipe of my own in here I'd like to write about. I love pablano peppers but haven't had them in eons. Marc and I used to cook with them a lot, but I forgot just how good they are. I've had this Pinterest recipe for a long time for Chicken Poblano Soup and decided to make it one chilly weekend for meals for the following week. I found this on an awesome blog called The Fit Cook. It's such a great
resource. This soup definitely turned out a little bit more spicy than I expected, and I'm not sure if I'd make it again, but it's still great. I love the cilantro and poblano flavors together. It's really nice to mix in a little bit more yogurt when you serve it, to a) make it a little creamier and b) tone down the spice a tad.

Chicken Poblano Soup

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound poblano peppers, seeded and chopped
2 small yellow onions, rough chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup fresh cilantro plus more for garnish
8 ounces plain, nonfat Greek yogurt, divided
4 cups Chicken stock

1) Cook the chicken breast in a large pot of salted boiling water or chicken stock for about 10 minutes. When the chicken is cooked through, transfer it to a cutting board and use two forks to pull apart the meat. Set aside.
2) Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, nonstick soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the peppers, onions, and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned.
3) Add 3 cups of your boiling water or stock to the pot and season with extra salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the peppers and onions are cooked through.
4) Using a blender or hand held blender, blend until the soup reaches a smooth, creamy consistency. Add in the yogurt and blend again. Finally, mix in the shredded chicken.
5) When serving, garnish with another dollop of yogurt and garnish with extra cilantro.

I Don't Always Herdy Dur Mur Flerpty Floopin...

Area Four - Cambridge, MA

http://areafour.com/

The beautiful Carnivore Pizza

     I have heard so much about Area Four but have never been, so when my cousin Shannon mentioned she wanted to come in town with her kids and have lunch with me, I thought this might be a great place to go. Area Four, right in the heart of Kendall Square, apparently has great pizza and mac and cheese, and I figured you couldn't get more kid friendly fare. I can't say I've ever been to a restaurant like this before. It was a different (but awesome and unique) mix of modern and rustic, hipster and GQ. Everything was very clean and simple, clear and uncluttered. Water was served in tall, clear glass bottles, there was a bowl of 30+ eggs on the counter, and stacks of wood beneath the counter around their open kitchen. Their wood fired oven was in plain view in this portion of the kitchen and filled the air with delicious pizza smells.
   
     We ordered their Carnivore pizza with sopressata, sausage and bacon on it. Apparently sopressata is this great Italian dry salami that is incredible on pizza. Either that or Area Four just knows what their doing. Perhaps it's both. For their crust, they use a 12 year starter with no oil or sugar and over 30 hours of fermentation. This recipe + a wood fired oven made the crust bubble in a way I'd never seen before. It kind of looked like a dalmatian. Ha. It was perfectly simple, and the crust on the bottom held up flawlessly. It always bums me out when pizza crust gets all soggy and difficult to hold. Anyway, the sopressata, bacon and sausage on this pizza was amazing. Each different meat had its own unique flavor - some peppery, some spicy, some herby. The sopressata was cut into these super wide slices and their edges curled up as they cooked, almost making them like a saucer. The bacon wasn't your standard thin bacon. It was more like the "bacon pieces" most people never think to buy but are more delicious. These meats together had so much flavor. I could've easily eaten the whole pizza.

Oven Home Fries

     We also got a few other dishes to share and try since there were 5 of us. I tried their mac and cheese which they served in a small cast iron dish. It was perfect. They made it with that pasta in the shape of little shells, and you could tell it was their homemade cheese sauce. Not overly cheesy, but not too thin and unflavorful. And they topped it all with some toasted breadcrumbs. I tried a couple of their wood oven home fries which were more like potato chunks, also served in a cast iron dish. They were super soft inside, had browned and crispy edges, and were infused with parmesan and parsley flavors... at least that's what I'm guessing. They were to die for. Those crispy edges get me every time. 

To balance it all out, we tried two of their salads. One of them was their Kitchen Sink salad which, rightfully named, had everything but the kitchen sink in it. It had romaine, radicchio, salame, fontina cheese, mushrooms, green olives, banana peppers, chickpeas, roasted onions and lemon-roasted garlic vinaigrette. Like I said... everything. I mean... I like all of these ingredients, and I thought I would've liked it (which I did), but I didn't love it. Maybe it was the olives? I'm not sure. There was just a ton going on. The other salad however, was one of the most delicious salads I've ever

Brussel Sprout Salad

eaten. When I read "brussel sprout salad," I assumed I was going to get whole brussel sprouts roasted or something and tossed with some other things. Wrong. These sprouts were actually shredded and mixed with shredded kale, red onion, roasted hazelnuts, pecorino cheese and a lemon vinaigrette. The roasted hazelnuts added an awesome crunch to a rather delicate salad. The pecorino cheese was mixed in the salad in shavings and added a deliciously salty, nutty and powerful cheese flavor. Together with the lemon vinaigrette, these flavors combined to make something fabulous. I'd really like to experiment with this and try to make it on my own. All in all, such a great and unique culinary experience.


Cheddar, Beer and Mustard Pull-Apart Bread - The Chabala's Kitchen, Milford, MI

Quite possibly the most beautiful bread ever seen

     For our annual "Classy Christmas" event this year, I decided I was going to make this Cheddar, Beer and Mustard Pull-Apart Bread I found on Smitten Kitchen. The woman is a genius so I knew anything she was whipping up in her kitchen was going to knock my socks off. This bread went through multiple phases. I whipped up the sauce at my mom's house, made the dough at my dad's and assembled and baked it all at the Chabala's with the help of Dan and his mom. If you're looking for a quick bread recipe, it's definitely not this one, BUT I still highly recommend it. It was best straight out of the oven with a little butter spread and melted on it. Plus, look how pretty it is! Kind of like the pull and peel twizzlers. I really liked the combination of the cheeses and mustard together. I went with a whole ground mustard because it's my favorite and has the flavor I was looking for. I also added some green onions which I think was a great idea (to toot my own horn a little bit). Although, I wasn't too fond of the beer flavor. It could've been because I used Miller Lite in the dough. Yea yea... go ahead and laugh. I was running out of time, realized I didn't have the kind of beer she suggested, so I just went with what we had. I bet it would've been great with a darker beer. The only other difference between what she did and what I did was that I mixed all the spices in with the sauce and brushed it on the bread dough as opposed to tossing it with the cheese. This was all an accident. Completely a delicious accident.

Cheddar, Beer and Mustard Pull Apart Bread

Bread
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup beer, preferably dark but really, use whatever you like to drink
2 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour, divided
1/3 cup rye flour (I just used all-purpose flour)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) instant yeast
1 teaspoon table salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

Filling
3 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Dijon or a mustard of your choice
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Dash of hot sauce
1 teaspoon  mustard powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Several grinds black pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar

1) Make dough: In a small saucepan, heat the 4 tablespoons butter and 1/4 cup of beer, just until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and add the remaining 1/3 cup beer. Set aside to cool down slightly. You want the mixture warm but not steaming hot.

2) Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, sugar, yeast and table salt. With the mixer on low, pour in the butter-beer mixture, mixing only until the flour is moistened. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. The batter will look lumpy, but will become smooth in a moment. Add the remaining 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and all of the rye flour, mixing until just combined. Replace paddle with a dough hook and let the machine knead the dough for 3 to 4 minutes on low.

3) Oil a medium/large bowl and transfer dough to it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside for

50 to 60 minutes, until doubled. Meanwhile, prepare fillings.You can also rest the dough in the fridge overnight -- wrapped tightly with plastic. The next day, let it rest at room temperature for an hour before rolling out.

4) Make fillings: Melt the 3 tablespoons butter. Remove from heat and whisk in mustard, Worcestershire and hot sauce until smooth. Set aside.

5) In the bottom of a medium bowl, stir together mustard powder, paprika, table salt and several grinds of black pepper. Add shredded cheddar and toss until grated strands are evenly coated with spices.

6) Assemble bread: Either coat a 9-by-5 loaf pan lightly with butter or a nonstick spray and set aside.

7) Turn dough out onto a well-floured counter and roll the dough into a 20-by-12-inch rectangle, making sure it doesn’t stick to the counter by lifting sections and re-flouring the counter as needed. Brush the butter-mustard-Worcestershire mixture evenly over the whole surface, right up to the edges. Cut the dough crosswise into 5 strips; each should be 12-by-4 inches. Don't worry if they're not perfect rectangles. Everything will rise and mush together as it's baking. Sprinkle the first one evenly with a heaping 1/4 cup of the grated cheese. Place another strip on top of it, coat it with another heaping 1/4 cup of cheese, and repeat with remaining strips until they are stacked 5-high and all of the cheese is used.

8) With your very sharpest serrated knife, cut your stack into 6 to 7 2-inch segments (each stacked segment should be 4-by-2 inches).

9) Arrange stacks of dough down the length of your prepared loaf pan as if filling a card catalog drawer. It's easier if you stand up your loaf pan up on its short end.

10) Loosely cover the pan with more plastic wrap and set it aside to rise again for 30 to 45 more minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

11) Bake loaf for 25 to 35 minutes, until puffed and brown. Transfer it to a wire rack and let it cool for 5 minutes before flipping it out onto a serving plate/cutting board. Serve warm with butter!

New York Pizza - Boston, MA

http://www.newyorkpizzaboston.com/index.htm

   

Another meaty pizza :]

     Unfortunately, it was Rachel's last day as a co-op at work, but fortunately she ordered us all pizza! I know... it seems a little backwards, but my boss tried to convince her otherwise. Either way, she ordered a bunch of pizzas from New York Pizza down on Tremont St. This little place is a family run pizza joint rooted in NYC, but transplanted in Boston to serve up famous New York style pizza. I love supporting families and entrepreneurs like this. Makes me all warm inside... especially when they deliver me delicious goods.

     It's been forever since I've had pizza delivered to me, but it was absolutely amazing. OH gosh. So she got a couple different specialty pizzas and a bunch of cheese pizzas. Naturally, I had to try them all, so I cut all the pieces in half :] The slices were HUGE. One slice could definitely be an entire meal. Their "traditional crust" was great and had the cornmeal on the bottom. Relatively thin on bottom, but the crust around the edges was thick and fluffy. The cheese was the chewy kind of cheese and well... I just can't ask for anything better than that. Normally I'm not a big fan of cheese pizza just because I want more action, but I'd be completely fine eating this cheese pizza. The second pizza I tried was barbecue chicken. It was great because the whole piece didn't taste like it was covered in barbecue sauce (like many bbq chicken pizzas come). Just the chicken thrown on it was bbq. The next slice I tried was a veggie pizza with green peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, onions, olives and these big thick slices of mushrooms. I know I've blabbed before about my theory of the status of pizza places based on their mushroom selection, but in my opinion, this place has "arrived" because they do their mushrooms right. Big, fresh, thick slices. No canned nonsense. The next slice was the Meat Lovers. I bet you can't guess which was my favorite. It had hamburger, pepperoni, sausage, and ham. The hamburger was awesome. Although, I definitely thought it was just sausage until I looked up the menu just now.

French Onion Soup Potstickers - My Mom's Kitchen, White Lake, MI

Photo credits to Hailee Dion :]

     When we were younger, our get togethers always seemed to involve things like sledding, work out

videos, rollerblading, dancing, etc. Now? We sit around and eat food. It seems like that’s what we center all of our gatherings around, and I’m 100% ok with it. Hailee, Mallory and I (Jaime was in Florida.. boo) decided to have a Pinterest night where we all made a Pinterest recipe we’ve been meaning to try. Hailee made an amazing (low cal… ha) loaded potato casserole with chicken, bacon, cheese and potatoes. There’s no possible way you could’ve made those ingredients taste bad together. Mallory made a spaghetti squash mac and cheese with broccoli in it. It was so good! I really have to try making spaghetti squash more often.

    I wanted to try something out of my normal style of cooking. I made these French Onion Soup potstickers that I found on Iowa Girl Eats. I’m not even so sure I’ve ever had real potstickers before this. Either way, it was fun to try something new, and it was even more fun to eat them. They're pretty delicate, so putting them together was tough for me. I wanted to stuff them with the beefy sauteed onions and cheese, but the wonton wrappers wouldn't close, so I had to cut back a little. There were a lot of modifications that I had to make along the way. The process of cooking them was interesting too. First you put them butt down in a hot skillet with some oil and browned the bottoms. Then you threw in some water, covered them, let them steam for a bit, took the lid off and let them crisp up again. Crisp them up, only to make them soggy and then crisp again. Hmm. Anyway, they were delicious! Hailee, Mallory and my Mom loved them. I loved the way the bottoms turned a golden brown, the tops were soft and the insides tender. The onions were perfectly soft and the cheese was melted just like in a cup of French Onion soup. Mallory and I really liked dipping them in some cool sour cream to contrast the hot savory insides. They may have been a little bit of work, but they're fun to make and super tasty. Also, I didn't make the Au Jus dipping sauce that she did, but I'm sure that'd be good too. Here's the recipe!

French Onion Soup Potstickers

2 jumbo sweet onions, cut into quarters then sliced thin
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 small dried bay leaves (or 1 big one)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese
20 wonton wrappers
vegetable oil

1) Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion slices and season with salt and pepper, then add Worcestershire sauce, dried thyme, bay leaves, sugar, and beef broth to the skillet and stir well. Turn heat up to high, bring broth to a boil, then turn back down to medium heat.

2) Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until very tender and dark brown. About 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and cool the onions completely, then place into a bowl and mix with mozzarella cheese.

3) Lay wonton wrappers out on a clean, dry surface, then place 1 Tablespoon onion mixture into the center of each wrapper. Wet all four sides with a pastry brush or your finger, then fold the bottom right-hand corner up the top left-hand corner and seal the edges, being careful to remove all air pockets. 

4) Heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in a medium-sized skillet. Place potstickers, being careful not to crowd, into the skillet, getting oil on the bottom of each potsticker. Cook until golden brown on the bottom, then add enough water to come 1/3 of the way up the potstickers. Place a lid on top and let the potstickers steam for 2-3 minutes.

5) When there is just a couple Tablespoons water left in the skillet, remove the lid and allow the water to cook out and the potsticker bottoms to crisp back up. Use a spatula to gently unstick the wrappers from the skillet and serve with Au Jus dipping sauce or sour cream. Mmmm!

But Now I Only Have Two Meats...

S&S Restaurant – Cambridge, MA

http://www.sandsrestaurant.com/

3 cuties

Griffin told me about S&S a long time ago when I asked him what his favorite brunch places were. After reviewing the menus of all the places he named, this one topped my list of places I wanted to go for brunch. It was my destination of choice after my weigh in for HOCR. After Meagan’s race, Karl, Kevin, Meagan and I drove up to S&S in Inman Square. Finally. This place is huge! When you walk in, there is an enormous bakery counter with everything and anything I’d ever want to eat. Then they have at least 4 huge rooms with tons of seating. It was packed and there were a ton of families and old people. I know it’s weird to say, but it was kind of refreshing. I feel like I live in an area with a ton of younger people, so it’s nice to see old couples out to brunch on a Saturday.

Parisian French toast and Corned beef hash

Anyway, their menu is absolutely outrageous. Every dish seems so intricately designed. Like the sushi of the brunch world. Their egg dishes sounded so good with things like salmon, cucumber, and canadian bacon, but I had my heart set on their stuffed French toasts. I finally went with the Parisian French toast. Oh my goodness. This was thick cut bread stuffed with warm, gooey brie and fig preserves, and sprinkled with a little powdered sugar. The subtly of the soft brie and the super flavorful and sweet fig preserves was amazing. The combination of the different textures was fabulous too. Crispy edges on the French toast, the gooey cheese, and the soft bread. At first I wished there was more, but once I started eating it, I knew it was going to be plenty because it was all so rich. The little fruit salad it was served with was the perfect way to cleanse the palette.

I kept seeing multiple people being served this bowl looking thing that was overflowing with some meaty concoction and knew I needed it. Turns out it was their corned beef hash and it was superb. I love corned beef, and I had truthfully never really corned beef hash in my life…at least I don’t think I had. I'm sure it had 4 years worth of fat in it, but it was so worth it.

Chocolate Lava Divine

I was so pleased with everything. THEN we had to go and get the Chocolate Lava Divine that I eyed on the way in. Had to. Such a great choice. It was a chocolate cake filled with dark chocolate truffle lava and topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. The warm gooey chocolate lava that poured in when you cut into it. Definitely not the first time I’ve had it, but it was incredible and gone in seconds.

The Neighborhood Restaurant – Somerville, MA

http://www.theneighborhoodrestaurant.com/

Eggs, homefries, grilled banana and linguica

When Jim and Audrey were in town, they raved about this one place they went to called the Neighborhood Restaurant up in Somerville. I had heard about this place before and they supposedly served up some great Portuguese food, including blood sausage. That was my goal. I wanted the blood sausage. The morning after the Charles party (I think) Jimmy, Meagan and I decided to check it out. It’s a very simple place. They have a nice open outdoor seating area, but it was too cold so we just sat inside. It was very small inside, the tables were simple, the chairs plastic, and the “art” hung on the walls was pretty standard for a rural hometown diner run my grandma and grandpa. It didn’t really look Portuguese, and only a few items on the menu looked Portuguese. Unfortunately they didn’t have any blood sausage that day. Apparently it’s one of those secret-not-on-the-menu things. I was real bummed. Guess I’ll have to go back. Anyway… I got the #15 which came with 3 eggs, half of a big grilled banana, awesome homefries, and a couple slices of this really good Portuguese sausage called Linguica. It was way different than any standard sausage we’re used to. It was very coarsely ground. You could see all the different hunks of things (the meat, fat, and who knows what else). Either way, it had a great almost smoky flavor. They also served a small fruit salad, a plate with toast and corn bread and a glass of OJ with your meal, which was an added bonus. Generosity. I like it.

Quebrada Bakery – Arlington, MA

http://www.quebradabakingco.com/

Bran muffin

So there’s this bakery in Arlington that Nina loves. She has brought in banana bread, cookies, croissants, and other pastries from this place and they have all been exceptional. I decided to get a birthday cake from there in my final days at Bluetrain, and it was a standard chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. It had these awesome fudgy layers in between each layer of cake and the frosting was a sweet buttercream. BUT… I’m not here to talk about the cake. I’m here to talk about the miniature bran muffin I got for myself while I was there. I absolutely couldn’t walk away without something. I love bran muffins. I love that I feel like I’m eating Earth and that it’s semi-healthy. This muffin was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. Perfect lightweight size. I loved how coarse the bran pieces were and the raisins inside were plump. Sometimes bakeries really screw up bran muffins and they’re too dry, but not Quebrada.

Spanish Chickpea Salad – My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

So one of our recent SSC meetings had a Spanish theme, so I stuck with my own personal theme of making the salad for the evening. I found this awesome authentic Spanish salad recipe on the Spanish food section of About.com that was delicious, refreshing, and a great way to finish off the meal after some of Nonna’s fabulous paella. This salad was very simple. Cucumbers, pomegranate seeds, chic peas, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. I cut everything up pretty small so that it was uniform in shape. It was super crunchy and so refreshing. I already said that… but it was. Totally something you could make on the weekend and eat all week.

Spanish Chickpea Salad

2 pomegranates
2 large cucumbers
1 1/2 - 2 cans (15 oz each) of garbanzo beans
2 Large cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
Red wine vinegar for dressing
Extra virgin  olive oil for dressing

1) Peel the cucumbers and cut into small pieces. Remove the seeds from the pomegranate. 

Nonna's Paella

2) Drain the garbanzo beans and add to the bowl. 

3) Peel and finely chop the two cloves of garlic and place in bowl with vegetables. Remove stems from basil leaves and chop basil. Add to the bowl of vegetables and mix.
4) Sprinkle red wine vinegar over the chopped vegetables. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil. Mix thoroughly. Generally, use 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil. Taste and adjust vinegar and oil.

Blueberry Flan Pie – My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

In addition to my chickpea salad, Meagan and I collaborated on a blueberry flan pie for SSC - Spanish edition. I was pretty excited to find this recipe on this random website called Amazing Mexican Recipes. Even though the picture looks kind of funky, it turned out pretty good. It was a little sweet for me and I doubt I’d make it again, but everyone loved it. I’d say the insides were kind of a mesh between a custard and a blueberry pie.

Blueberry Flan Pie

5 cups blueberries (use fresh if possible, frozen if not)
1 tbsp lemon zest
Juice of 2 lemons
1 ½ cups plain yogurt
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
½ cup sugar
1 pie crust (premade or your own recipe)

1) Mix the blueberries with lemon juice and sugar in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher until about ½ of the blueberries are mashed. In another bowl, beat the eggs, and then beat in the condensed milk, lemon zest, and yogurt, followed by the mashed blueberries.

2) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while you get your crust ready and in your pie pan. Pour in the flan mixture and bake for about an hour and fifteen minutes or until the flan is set and the crust is crisp and golden brown – you can check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the pie. Allow the pie to cool and chill for a few hours. Serve cold.

Parmesan and Prosciutto Asparagus – My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

I’m a super big fan of this cheesy asparagus dish I made for our Italian themed dinner. I struggled to

find an interesting Italian salad, so I took a base recipe I discovered on the Food and Wine website and tweaked it a little to make it my own. The original recipe called for raw, ribboned asparagus tossed in zesty sauce made with coarsely shredded parmesan cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I made a similar cheese sauce except I used finely grated parmesan romano cheese, half of the olive oil, and omitted the salt. I felt as though the cheese provided enough salt. Also, using a vegetable peeler to turn 2 pounds of asparagus into a ton of ribbons was WAY too labor intensive for my tastes. These asparagus went through multiple phases. First I tried shredding them. Then I decided I didn’t want them raw, so I steamed them whole. Then I thought that with all the other things that I was going to add, eating a whole asparagus could be difficult, so I chopped them up into smaller pieces. Some weren’t fully cooked enough, so I had to sort through them and re-steam some. It sure was a process. ANYWAY… I definitely recommend cutting them up into 1-2 inch long pieces and then steaming them.

At this point, I threw together the cheese sauce, cut up some dried apricots, and threw in some smaller pieces of thinly sliced procioutto. The combination of all these things was incredible. Woah. The cheese sauce had a zesty, lemony flavor, the apricots provided a burst of sweetness, and the procioutto added some saltyness. Great flavors all around.

The second big dilemma of the evening was whether to serve it hot or cold. It sure was delicious warm, but the original recipe said cold. Meagan and I decided to go cold, and it was a great choice because it served as a refreshing veggie dish after Jimmy’s hot soup. Good contrast. Very proud of that whole thing.

Parmesan and Prosciutto Asparagus

2 pounds large asparagus
1 cup coarsely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (3 ounces)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons warm water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1) Cut up/cook asparagus however you wish. Whole, raw, shredded, chopped, whatever. 
2) In a small bowl, mix the Parmigiano-Reggiano with the lemon juice, water and olive oil. Add to the asparagus and toss to coat. Season the salad with salt and pepper and serve at once.

Cinnamon Roll Waffles – Mary’s Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

There’s a photo floating around Pinterest that I’m sure everyone and their mother has pinned. Cinnamon Roll waffles. It’s simple. Open up a can of the premade cinnamon rolls, stick them in a waffle maker, cook as you would a normal waffle, drizzle icing on top and enjoy. Mary and decided to make these one day after a Saturday workout and it was one of the best choices of my life. We used the Immaculate brand of cinnamon rolls from Whole Foods. It was interesting because they didn’t really taste like cinnamon rolls, but they didn’t taste like waffles. It was a beautiful beautiful blend of the two. The outside was slightly crisp and the inside was soft and moist. We tried them with syrup, but they were best with the icing.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

I had a period of time a while back where I went a little nuts with all the Pinterest recipes. I wanted

to try making these cookies I found on Averie Cooks that had very few ingredients: peanut butter, brown sugar, an egg, vanilla, baking soda and chocolate chips. I didn’t realize it at the time, but they’re a gluten free recipe. I was so skeptical because they had NO flour or butter. That’s basically not even a cookie. However, they were absolutely exceptional! They split and formed cracks kind of like a cheesecake or those chocolate crinkle cookies. Fresh from the oven, the chocolate was perfectly melty and the cookie itself had a hard time staying together. I was fine with that. Meagan was fine with that. We had an epiphany. Since we couldn’t hold them and dunk them in milk, we put parts of them onto a spoon and dipped them in milk. I must say… we thought we were geniuses.

Once they cooled they were just as delicious, but in a different way. I felt as though I got more of the peanut butter flavor when they were cool, and more chocolate when they were warm. Either way, they were just superb. I totally recommend trying to make them if you’re interested in gluten free recipes or just a different kind of cookie.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces semi-sweet, dark, or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips may be substituted)

Peanut butter cookie overloaded with chocolate chips

1) Combine peanut butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well-combined and the sugar is fully incorporated. Add the baking soda and beat to incorporate. Add the chocolate and beat slightly to mix. 

2) Form two-tablespoon mounds of dough, place on a large plate or cookie sheet, flatten slightly and refridgerate at least 2 hours. If chocolate is falling out of dough since there is an abundance, roll ball between palms to encourage it to stay in the dough.
3) Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are set and tops are barely set, even if slightly underbaked in the center. Do not bake them longer than 10 minutes, as the cookies firm up as they cool.
4) Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling. 

Pumpkin Granola - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Pumpkin granola

Yea... another Pinterest recipe. I had been meaning to make some granola for a while, and since it was fall, pumpkin granola sounded like a real winner. Normally I try to avoid things like oil and extra sugar in granola, and as a result, it has never turned out all that great. But this time I just wanted to follow a recipe almost exactly. I did not care about calorie content. I found this recipe for pumpkin granola on a blog called Foodess and was so so so pleased. This granola had achieved both the crispness, the chunkiness and the sweetness that I have been striving for in my last couple batches of granola. It was perfect, and you could really taste the pumpkin in it. Not to mention, it made the apartment smell delectable. I'm going to share her recipe, but I halved the recipe and it worked out fine. I get too scared of screwing up and I don't want to have a million trays of wasted granola. As far as the nuts/seeds/berries go, I used cashews, cranberries, and chocolate chips. 

Pumpkin Granola 

1 cup pumpkin puree
1½ tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger (I didn't use this because I couldn't find mine)
⅓ cup vegetable oil
½ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
5 cups old fashioned large flake oats
2 cups raw cashews

3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 cups dried cranberries

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2) In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, oil, brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Stir in the oats and cashews.
3) Divide mixture between two large baking sheets and bake 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally and checking frequently, until the cashews are golden and toasty and the granola is dry.
4) Let cool completely on baking sheets if larger clumps are preferred. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in cranberries and chocolate chips. Transfer to airtight containers.

Fedora Café – Lawrenceville, NJ
http://fedoracafe.webs.com/

I HAVE to write about Fedora Café. Princeton never ceases to impress, with PJ’s Pancakes, Hoagie Haven and now Fedora Café. Leigh recommended we go to Fedora Café for dinner on Saturday after our erg piece at Speed Order. THANK YOU LEIGH! Fedora Café is this cute little café. I’d say it’s my ideal café. Everything about it is unique. The art, the furniture, the tapestries hanging on the wall, and the dishes. No two things were the same. Leigh originally brought us because they offer an endless pasta bowl. You pick your noodle, sauce, and any toppings you want. If you finish your first bowl, they’ll refill it for free. It was so … much… pasta. I could’ve done it, but my shrunken stomach knew that I’d regret it, especially with a race the next day. I refrained, but OH MAN. It was some of the best pasta I’ve ever had at a restaurant. I got bow ties, blush sauce (a mix of marinara and a cream sauce I believe), portobella mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, peas, broccoli, spinach, artichoke hearts, peppers, and onions. The deal sealer was the sun dried tomatoes. The flavor of sun dried tomatoes is so powerful. I love it. The mushrooms were key in this dish too. They were big and thickly sliced. I loved how the broccoli soaked up a bunch of the sauce in the bushy part of each piece. There was just so much going on. So many delicious things. The sauce brought it all together in sweet harmony.  

The Ginger Exchange – Cambridge, MA

http://www.gingerexchange.com/cambridge/index.html

Prettiest little crab rangoons

I swear we’ve been talking about sushi for months. And I mean months and months and months. We’ll do it after trials! We’ll do it after the Charles! We’ll do it after Speed Order! Yea… whatever. So finally… we did it. After some pretty intense research, Mary, Meagan, Brandon and I headed to The Ginger Exchange up in Inman Square. I love going to Inman Square because there are so many interesting places there that I want to eat. It’s like traveling to another country. I had spotted crab rangoons on the menu during our research… and well… you can’t just not get crab rangoons. They were amazing. They came piping hot to our table like pretty little flowers arranged around the dipping sauce. The cream cheese and crab mix inside wasn’t too crabby or overly airy. Sometimes I think they whip up the mix that they put inside and it’s all airy, like whipped cream cheese you buy at the store. Know what I mean? Well… it wasn’t like that. It was much better. It was warm and creamy and smooth and had this great sweet dipping sauce (that Mary and I hoarded to dip other things in later in the evening).

Bo Bos

Mary also wanted to get the Bo Bo’s. Yea, I had never heard of them before, but they were described as some sort of dumpling stuffed with hunks of meat. We chose the beef. Three of them came to the table looking like tacos (as Meldrim put it) but I thought they looked like clams. A big puffy white dumpling was split in half and filled with the shredded beef. The flavor of the beef was amazing. It was kind of like an asian version of bbq if I had to guess. With hints of ginger and soy. So great. These came with French fries which, at the time, were like god’s gift to humanity. First fried food I had eaten in FOREVER and it was incredible. I mean… the fries were good, but I’m guessing they wouldn’t be super exceptional to the average person. Mary and I just thought they were like cake.

I was so happy with our choice in rolls. The Christmas was delicious. My optimal choice. It had shrimp tempura, tempura flakes, tuna, avocado, spicy mayo and eel sauce. We also chose the Mt. Fuji (spicy scallop, tobiko, crab stick, avocado, cucumber), Spider (soft shell crab tempura, avocado, cucumber, tobiko, eel sauce), Serendipity (seared scallops, tempura flakes, crab stick, spicy mayo, secret sauce, seared homachi, black tobiko) and the Farmer's Market (avocado, cucumber, yamagobo, sweet tofu, dried seaweed). The Mt. Fuji came piled high with this delicious shredded crab on top in some sort of mildly spicy sauce. The dried seaweed draped over top of the Farmer's Market was something new for me but I really liked it. The seared homachi (a type of fish) on top of the Serendipity had a really unique smoky flavor that I surprisingly liked. They all had something unique about them and that was really cool. 

Christina’s – Cambridge, MA

http://christinasicecream.com/

Peanut butter cup and cookie dough ice cream

As we polished off our last couple pieces of sushi at The Ginger Exchange, I asked if we wanted to order more. We all made the great decision that instead of ordering more, we would go get ice cream instead. We had passed Christina’s on the way in, and we had all heard at one point that it was apparently as good as Toscanini’s. We had to test it out. I’ll say, they had a decent number of flavors, but they weren’t as unique as Toscanini’s Browned Butter Pumpkin Sage or the B cubed. However, Christina’s had some incredible ice cream. Woah, so I got the peanut butter cup (duh) and the cookie dough. I love cookie dough. This was probably the best cookie dough I’ve ever had because not only were there delicious hunks of dough in the ice cream, but the ice cream itself tasted like cookie dough. Somehow they had infused the cookie dough flavor into the creamy part and ohhhh was it creamy. The peanut butter cup was delicious too. Sometimes peanut butter ice creams can have too much peanut butter, and it can be overwhelming, but this was far from. It was the perfect creamy balance of chocolate and peanut butter bliss. This is tough. Real tough. I’d still say Toscanini’s has the #1 spot, but Christina’s is definitely a close second.

Tatté – Cambridge, MA

http://tattebakery.com/

Beautiful Hazelnut Rose

After an unsuccessful attempt to sell clothing at Garment District, Meagan and I decided to slip into Tatté across the street. I had never seen this little café before, but I definitely loved the feel inside. It was very rustic feeling. It was very small and there was one long, battered, antique wooden table running through the middle. People sat munching on the most delicious looking breakfast sandwiches bursting with fresh greens. They had a BEAUTIFUL assortment of pastries and tarts. I opted for the Hazelnut Rose, which was sort of like a cinnamon roll with a great hazelnut flavor. It was tall, wrapped in paper, and split into two rolls at the top. Each one displayed on the platter was unique and had risen and grown in the oven in their own different direction. It was a bit more dry than your standard cinnamon roll (which was ok), and the cinnamon-y substance wrapped between each layer had what I think may have been ground up hazelnuts along with hunks of hazelnuts. It  was delicious. I ate it in the car, but I can only imagine how amazing it would be fresh from the oven.