Hey Everyone,
Wow...it's been a while. Where do I begin. I haven't blogged in so long. I really wanted to tell you guys about my dining experience at Saints Alp Teahouse in williamsburg. This place has a very cute atmosphere and is very cheap. Not the greatest food in the world if your a food snob, but if your in the mood for appetizers and a bubble tea, this place is right up your alley. I was with two of my friends, Juan and Mayra and for the three of us I think our bill came out to around 40 bucks and we all had 2 appetizers and a drink.
So lets talk about this bubble tea business for those of you who don't know. Bubble tea can come hot or cold and the bubbles are giant tapioca pearls (hence, the bubbles). I definitely prefer it cold. The give you a giant straw which enables you to get a bubble with each sip...its chewy and so interesting. But if you are a texture-phobe than you probably wouldn't be down with it. My friend Juan got a hot tea with bubbles. I got my coconut black milk tea (love it). The last time I got a butterscotch one an it was terrible. Being the creature of habit I am, I'll probably stick with that coconut milk tea every time I go there. My friend Mayra got matcha sorbee which is kind of like a smoothie with what looked like red bean paste floating on top. She liked it,(her second time ordering it). I don't remember what tea Juan got, but he didn't complain so he probably liked it.
On to the food. I had fried calamari. It was a nice small appetizer portion for one person. perfect size for $3.50 it was cooked perfectly and it had this spicy powder on top that was good but it made me cough a little..lol...(it came with sweet Chile sauce..yummy. Then I got vermicelli rice noodle with curry vegetables. That was a bit disappointing. The flavor of the sauce was good. The problem was that the only vegetables in the dish were potatoes and carrots, and two lonely little baby bokchoy off to the side that seemed to be more of steamed garnish that anything else The next problem with the dish was that the sauce rested on top of this huge pile of noodles. Vermicelli noodles are particularly skinny and very very long. After I took one bite...my sauce got lost and all of the noodles on the bottom were naked. so it seemed very boring after 3 minutes. I told my friends to remind me next time to order something else.
My friends were happy with their food. They got spicy fried chicken chunks. I think the spice came from the same powder that was on my calamari. and Ramen with spicy minced pork. I'm a non-meat eater so I cant say first hand how those dishes were, but to be honest I think if you throw anything spicy in front of my friends they will love it. They throw sriracha sauce on everything! but I think I'm a little more picky. Oh wait, I did try Juan's tea eggs. I was not impressed by a hard boiled egg cooked in tea lol...but to each his own.
Sunday I went to The Rye Bar and grill in Rye New york for My aunt and uncles 50th wedding anniversary party. Well, lets get right to the business at hand, i was not impresses with the service in regards to the food, but those waiters sure kept those drinks flowing. I'm almost positive that was my cousins fault. He probably told them to hold off on the food order for a while so that held everything up. I had a goat cheese salad for an appetizer. It had obviously been sitting around underneath the kitchen lights for quite some time because when it arrived to the table it ws warm. Now I know how to read and it clearly said goat cheese salad. Not a warm got cheese salad. My entre was salmon with spinach and potatoes. The sauteed spinach was the best thing on the plate. The potatoes were cut in thick slices. Ive honestly never seen potatoes cut that way. It almost looked like a scalloped potato that missed the mark. There were three on the plate that were undercooked. They were straight up like card board. I did not eat them and I didn't even bother to send them back. By that point I was just itching to leave and go to whole foods.(my favorite place in the whole wide world!)
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Hey Everyone,
So Ive been a bit lazy with my blogging. After thanksgiving and that lasagna episode, I was tired....so so tired. But now I'm back. Back with vengeance. A big cookie vengeance. Every holiday season I go to town baking pumpkin breads and banana breads. Cinnamon swirl bread...and they are sooo good. especially my cinnamon swirl bread. A not too sweet quick bread with a brown sugar walnut swirl. Yum.
I think I'm going to try my hand at cookies this year. Ive always been a bit intimidated with cookie recipes because they are so easy to scew up if you take your eye off them for one minute. Or if your oven is acting up that day. But Ive seen few nice ones that I think are going to make some nifty gifts for my friends.
In Martha Stewart's magazine this month there is an article "One basic dough, 30 kinds of cookies". This looks like it could be right up my alley. I'm all about multi baking. If I can take a basic recipe and tweak it into something else..kudos!. Of course I'm always out to eyeball a Paula Deen recipe, and Ive got my eyeballs on a few that I most definitely will try because they tend to be very simple to make and so good. And I'm all about a simple recipe. The first one I saw on her cookie swap show tonight. I tried to insert the link but it wasn't working tonight. You can google the recipe and it will come up.
Paula Deen's Sand Tarts
Makes: 3 dozen cookies
1 c. butter (2 sticks), softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. confectioners' sugar
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. pecans, finely chopped
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 275°F.
2. In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat butter, vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in pecans.
3. With floured hands, shape dough by level measuring tablespoons into about 2" by 1/2" crescents. Place crescents, 2 inches apart, on 2 ungreased large cookie sheets.
4. Place cookie sheets on 2 oven racks. Bake about 45 minutes or until edges are lightly browned, rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower racks halfway through cooking. With metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks set over waxed paper. Immediately sprinkle remaining confectioners' sugar through sieve over cookies to coat well. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
5. Store cookies in tightly sealed container, with waxed paper between layers, at room temperature, up to 2 weeks or in freezer up to 3 months.
Nutrition facts (each cookie): About 105 calories, 1 g protein, 8 g carbohydrate, 8 g total fat (4 g saturated), 1 g fiber, 15 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium.
The next recipe I've actually made before. It's a chocolate crackle recipe. It's a recipe from my favorite southern belle Paula Deen (cant remember what she calls them). But this recipe I actually got from food network magazine. So I'm sure its all in the family on that one. Anyway, these are two easy ones that I am definitely going to make within the next week or so. Also, I saw a really cute way to present them as a present. In a plastic bucket (the ones kids use in the sandbox lol) filled with Turbinado sugar to look like "sand". I saw it on the cookie swap and when it was all wrapped in cellophane it looked so cute and fun. I know that is something I'm going to look into. So here's the next recipe.
Double chocolate crackles
So Ive been a bit lazy with my blogging. After thanksgiving and that lasagna episode, I was tired....so so tired. But now I'm back. Back with vengeance. A big cookie vengeance. Every holiday season I go to town baking pumpkin breads and banana breads. Cinnamon swirl bread...and they are sooo good. especially my cinnamon swirl bread. A not too sweet quick bread with a brown sugar walnut swirl. Yum.
I think I'm going to try my hand at cookies this year. Ive always been a bit intimidated with cookie recipes because they are so easy to scew up if you take your eye off them for one minute. Or if your oven is acting up that day. But Ive seen few nice ones that I think are going to make some nifty gifts for my friends.
In Martha Stewart's magazine this month there is an article "One basic dough, 30 kinds of cookies". This looks like it could be right up my alley. I'm all about multi baking. If I can take a basic recipe and tweak it into something else..kudos!. Of course I'm always out to eyeball a Paula Deen recipe, and Ive got my eyeballs on a few that I most definitely will try because they tend to be very simple to make and so good. And I'm all about a simple recipe. The first one I saw on her cookie swap show tonight. I tried to insert the link but it wasn't working tonight. You can google the recipe and it will come up.
Paula Deen's Sand Tarts
Makes: 3 dozen cookies
1 c. butter (2 sticks), softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. confectioners' sugar
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. pecans, finely chopped
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 275°F.
2. In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat butter, vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in pecans.
3. With floured hands, shape dough by level measuring tablespoons into about 2" by 1/2" crescents. Place crescents, 2 inches apart, on 2 ungreased large cookie sheets.
4. Place cookie sheets on 2 oven racks. Bake about 45 minutes or until edges are lightly browned, rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower racks halfway through cooking. With metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks set over waxed paper. Immediately sprinkle remaining confectioners' sugar through sieve over cookies to coat well. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
5. Store cookies in tightly sealed container, with waxed paper between layers, at room temperature, up to 2 weeks or in freezer up to 3 months.
Nutrition facts (each cookie): About 105 calories, 1 g protein, 8 g carbohydrate, 8 g total fat (4 g saturated), 1 g fiber, 15 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium.
The next recipe I've actually made before. It's a chocolate crackle recipe. It's a recipe from my favorite southern belle Paula Deen (cant remember what she calls them). But this recipe I actually got from food network magazine. So I'm sure its all in the family on that one. Anyway, these are two easy ones that I am definitely going to make within the next week or so. Also, I saw a really cute way to present them as a present. In a plastic bucket (the ones kids use in the sandbox lol) filled with Turbinado sugar to look like "sand". I saw it on the cookie swap and when it was all wrapped in cellophane it looked so cute and fun. I know that is something I'm going to look into. So here's the next recipe.
Double chocolate crackles
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
Directions
Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the melted butter and eggs until combined, then stir in the white chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Put the confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls, then roll in the confectioners' sugar until well coated. Place 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.
Bake until the cookies are puffed and the tops are cracked, about 10 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.
Ok so...Im off, so enjoy the cookie recipes and if you try them and like them, leave me some comments on my blog!
Until next time
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Put the confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls, then roll in the confectioners' sugar until well coated. Place 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.
Bake until the cookies are puffed and the tops are cracked, about 10 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.
Ok so...Im off, so enjoy the cookie recipes and if you try them and like them, leave me some comments on my blog!
Until next time
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