It's About Breakfast, Allison

Good morning, world.  Yesterday evening I had a glorious time shopping at Whole Foods.  Seriously, you're probably thinking that shopping at Whole Foods should not give me that much pleasure, but it does.  And I got the ingredients I needed to recreate WaterCourse Foods' Amsterdam Hash.  Yes, that is the name of the dish.  Don't get any ideas now, just click on the link to refresh your memory.

OK, so I didn't exactly recreate the home fries... I went with mashed potatoes, so I could have it ready for lunch- or dinner-type meals.  And I also used the no-egg scramble recipe from The Jazzy Vegetarian.  (It's still a tofu scramble, but I kind of like that TJV called it a "no-egg scramble.")

Anyway, I now make an excellent mushroom gravy, and while I've told this to my sister and one of my cousins, I'll just put it out there that you should invite me over for Thanksgiving because of my mushroom gravy.  It is that awesome.

I also made some oven-roasted Brussels sprouts for kicks, and I made a Tofurky breakfast sausage link.  I only ate half of the said link.  I could have done without it, and now I know better.  No need for the fake meat when it comes to this dish.  Should have known that from the WaterCourse version.  All in all, it was a success in my book.  It took me ninety minutes to make everything, but I really didn't mind.  I love that cooking is creativity in action.  I never saw it that way until recently.  The floodgates are open...

Dipping into 2012

Oh, hi there, blog reader! I didn't see you there. Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable.

It's a new year, and with that comes new goals!

Oh wait, haha, I just consulted my 2012 list, and I didn't include goals about cooking. Anyway, it's a new year, and there are new recipes to try!

After searching for fresh artichokes in San Jose last month to no avail, I carried my craving for artichokes over into 2012. I decided to make the vegan artichoke dip from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet. (I couldn't find any soy Parmesan at Whole Foods, so I used nutritional yeast, and also, I didn't have any paprika to sprinkle on top.)

The result: DELICIOUS! I had it (not the whole thing) with tortilla chips.

Members of The Kind Life website said on the forum board that the dip tastes even better the next day, so I can't wait to eat the leftovers!

In case you're interested...

Ingredients I used:
2 8.5-ounce cans of artichoke hearts
1 cup Vegenaise
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (Alicia's recipe called for 1 cup of soy Parmesan - I only used half because it was my first time using/trying nutritional yeast [mmmmmm])
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped (Alicia's recipe called for 1 garlic clove, but I loves me some garlic!)
Optional: Paprika (well, it wasn't optional for Alicia, but I made it optional, heh heh)
Tortilla chips (Alicia suggested crackers or endive leaves, but I already had tortilla chips on hand)

What I did:
Honored Alicia's directions and then took my own. Haha, that was a 10th grade English class reference. But seriously, I drained the liquid from the artichokes and mashed them in a mixing bowl (tore some apart even more with my hands). Then I added the Vegenaise, garlic, and nutritional yeast. Mixed it all together and put the dip into the baking dish which you see above and baked for 30 minutes at 300 degrees (I'm sure you could use a higher temp, but I didn't want it to burn while I checked Facebook, so I used a lower temp). Devoured a portion of the dip and burned my mouth in the process, but it was worth it.

We interrupt the piano adventures for food raves

Met up with Alexa for dinner Friday evening after my Columbus Circle piano adventure. I wanted to celebrate her new EP release over dinner and suggested that we have organic ramen at new restaurant called Totto Ramen. Time Out New York wrote about it recently, and when it comes to ramen, I know that Alexa is game! Even when it's hot, haha.

The restaurant is on the small side, but we were able to get a table. Our waiter said we could store our belongings on the shelf above us. Very convenient! Alexa and I both expressed concern though that our things would fall on us. Maybe it's my Pacific Northwest earthquake mentality that took over. Alas, we were fine. :)

I ordered the organic ramen as it's vegetarian, and here's a picture -- the presentation was so beautiful!  (Also, what you can't see is the pedestal on which this bowl rests.)

I mean, come on! Looking at it makes me want another bowl right now. The broth was so delicious. Now I understand the word "umami," which was used repeatedly on the Food Network last year, and I never quite got it until this bowl of ramen. The combination of veggies was perfection, and I especially liked the delicate texture of the avocado slices. You can't see the noodles from this shot, but they were also really good, especially with that broth. Mmmmm, mmmm!

Afterward, Alexa asked if I had room for dessert. Of course! She knew just the treat for us. There's a place called Xie Xie on Ninth Avenue between 45th and 46th that sells ice cream sandwiches for dessert, among other items. Specifically, it was called the "1000 year old ice cream sandwich," and Alexa explained it looks like the 1000 year egg. Ice cream plus black caramel plus a thin cookie on each side. Sooooo good. And well worth the wait for a table.  Thanks, Alexa!

Cinnamon Snail at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market

A few days ago, Alexa let me know that she was going to the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market on Sunday, May 2nd, because the gourmet food trucks around the city (and it turns out, beyond the city) would all be in one place that day.  I've read about these trucks in Time Out New York, back when I had a free subscription to that magazine.  Sadly, that free subscription ended in February.

I checked out the flea market's website on Saturday night and got excited when I saw that Cinnamon Snail was offering "the most decadent vegan doughnuts" according to Time Out New York's website.  Plus, they serve only organic food.  Make that a double plus in my book.

Alexa texted me on Sunday morning to let me know that she would be there, so I made my way down to Hell's Kitchen on 39th and Ninth Avenue.  As luck would have it, Cinnamon Snail was the first truck!  I ordered the sandwich that was recommended by Time Out New York, a portobello carpaccio on semolina fennel bread.  There were also caramelized onions and green veggies inside the sandwich.  Instead of a doughnut, I ordered a mini raspberry cheesecake for dessert.  It looked so good, I couldn't resist.

After receiving my order, I met up with Alexa and her friends as they waited for Korean BBQ.  It was a long wait, so I ended up eating my sandwich & dessert and even finished before Alexa was able to order her food.  For the record, she said it was fine if I ate while we waited in line.  :)

Oh my gosh, the portobello carpaccio was SO! DELICIOUS!  My mouth is watering just typing this blog entry.

My mini cheesecake survived the wait in a brown paper bag (it was hot & sunny yesterday).  It was also very tasty, creamy and flavorful.  I could have eaten it in maybe two bites, but I took smaller bites to savor the taste and textures.  I wonder what the recipe is.  As Cinnamon Snail only serves vegan food, that means there wasn't actually any cream cheese in the cheesecake.  Maybe it was some sort of tofu substitution.  (On a tangent, I have tried tofutti in place of cream cheese on bagels, and it's quite good.)

I was tempted to purchase more treats before I left the flea market, but the line was much longer than when I arrived.  I wish the Cinnamon Snail truck was based in NYC instead of Hoboken.  I'd definitely track it on Twitter and then track it down to get some wonderful food if it were.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups!

I tried my first recipe from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet today: chocolate peanut butter cups!  I bought all the ingredients yesterday.  I needed to make a run (okay, walk) to Target to buy paper liners for the muffin tray, so I did that during my "lunch hour" today.

Before cooking dinner, I measured out all the ingredients, mixed 'em and melted 'em.  My hands were pretty shaky when I was spooning in the peanut butter mixture and the chocolate topping, so they didn't turn out as beautifully as I would have liked (the pictured one is the "best looking" one)... After two hours of cooling in the fridge, I tried my first homemade peanut butter cup.  They are really tasty!  The vegan chocolate chips are quite sweet, so I may try a different kind next time, and when I make them again, I'll use unsalted peanut butter (which is what the recipe called for, heh).   Oh, this was a vegan recipe, but my graham crackers had some organic honey in them.  Oh well.  I haven't quite given up honey yet.  And I'm not exactly a vegan.  Just flirting!  :)

I'll have that with brown rice, please.

I've had brown rice at Chinese restaurants, but I've never cooked brown rice myself... that is, until today!  I bought a small bag of brown rice at the grocery.  The other day, I searched for tips on how to make it on the stove, and the advice worked!

Here's what I did:

• Boil 4 cups of water.
• Prepare 1 cup of rice by giving it the good old pre-cooking swirl-and-clean in a bowl of water.
• Boil the rice for 30 minutes in the pot, uncovered.  Stir occasionally.
• Drain the water from the pot, and let the rice steam in the covered pot for 10 minutes.

Excellent!  My spinach/carrots/mushroom/garlic with soy sauce and red pepper flakes tastes delicious with my brown rice.

Leftovers with almond milk and cinnamon tomorrow.  

Numero 28

Perhaps I should have placed my camera in my purse today... I returned to SoHo to find the Roman-style pizza I mentioned previously.  The A train runs express, so I got off at Canal Street and walked north to Spring Street, but not up Sixth Avenue like I did before.  So when I turned right on Spring Street and kept walking several blocks, I didn't see the pizzeria.  So I had to turn around and eventually found Numero 28 (that's "ventotto" in Italian).  The older gentleman behind the counter was very friendly.  As soon as I laid my eyes on the potato pizza, nothing else mattered.  There was no sign in front of it, so I asked the man behind the counter to make sure it was the potato and then I ordered a slice.  He whipped out a neat little measurement tool that evenly divided the rectangular pizza into a few rows and then began cutting.  He explained that he wanted to make sure everyone got equal slices.  I told him that I'd been to Italy and that they just began cutting randomly.  (But in Italy, they sold the slices by weight, so it didn't really matter how pieces were cut.)  He gave a little laugh and then put my slice in the oven briefly to warm it back up and give it a nice crispness.

It didn't take very long at all, and I sat by the window to watch people walk by and stop to look in -- like I did a few weeks ago.  And it even got a little busy.  Two women after me each ordered a slice, and another guy ordered something too.

The man behind the counter spoke in Italian to his friend.  I didn't understand anything, but it felt a little like Rome while I was eating.

Ah, yes, the pizza!  The slice was big!  It covered my paper plate.  The potatoes were thinly sliced and covered the entire rectangle.  The pizza dough is thicker than New York style for sure, but I don't know how it compares to Sicilian style pizza.  It was nice and crispy with just the right amount of chewiness.  I remember the potato pizza in Rome had chunks of flavorful potato.  Numero 28 had a subtler flavor for their potatoes, but I still found it as a whole to be delicious.  No red tomato sauce.  Just potato, mozzarella, herbs, and maybe a little olive oil.  And not at all greasy!  Mmmmm, mmmm.  When I finished and got up to leave, the man who helped me took my plate and asked me if I enjoyed it.  I said yes and that I would definitely be back!

I felt energized after eating that potato pizza and ended up walking all the way to Times Square in the lovely sunshine!  Well, okay, 40th Street, but then had to walk underground to get the A train, so it was practically Times Square.

I would have to agree with Yelp.com

This week, I tried two cheap eateries based on my cravings and reviews on Yelp.com.  I'm not actually a member and I can't remember how I first came across the website, but I visit Yelp.com from time to time to read reviews about businesses, mainly food establishments.

After having banh mi twice last month, I was craving the sandwich.  At first, I was going to try Baoguette on St. Marks Place*, but after reading reviews that referred to Banh Mi Saigon in Chinatown, I decided to try it out.  I've actually walked by this place several times, as it's on Mott Street.  Just as people said, the establishment is a jewelry store in the front, and the food service is in the back.  The Yelpers didn't lie when they said there's really no clear line.  After being unsure at first, I finally made eye contact with the man taking orders and requested #1, the pork sandwich.  He asked if I wanted it spicy.  I said, "Not spicy!"  He told me my order number, and I only had to wait a few minutes, and he just motioned me to come forward when it was ready instead of calling my number.  For $3.75, the sandwich was very satisfying -- I actually couldn't finish both halves.  The bread was tasty and just the right amount of chewy.  The fillings were delicious.  Would I get it again?  Most likely yes, but not all the time.  Essentially you buy the sandwiches there, but there are no tables and chairs -- just benches for waiting for your order.

Last month I had dinner with Alexa in Soho.  Before we met up, I wandered around the area because I arrived a little early.  I came across this pizza place selling Roman-style pizza.  I stopped to look inside the windows and made a promise to myself that I'd return.  When I was with Rome with Mom and Dad, we tried pizza in a couple different places.  I can still remember how much I loved the rectangular piece of pizza with delicious, delicious potatoes as the topping.  Yes, potatoes!  Well, I haven't made good on my promise yet, mainly because I forgot the name of the place and haven't been able to find it online.  I plan to just wander around Soho again one of these days and I'm sure I'll find it.

In my quest for cheap eats, today I decided to try 2 Bros Pizza on St. Marks Place.  Yelpers said the best thing about it was that it's a $1 per slice, but there's not much more to it.  I was really hungry by the time I walked to St. Marks Place from Seventh Avenue and 12th Street, where I got off the 1 train.  Once again, the Yelpers didn't lie.  It was okay but nothing special.  But yay for only spending $1.  Would I get 2 Bros Pizza again?  Eh, not the plain.  I would want to try the mushroom slice, which is $1.50.

*Is it "St. Marks Place" with or without an apostrophe?  I've seen it without in many places, but I'm always tempted to put an apostrophe there.  Sigh.

A few months ago, it was cornbread

Now I'm craving suman. Mmmmmmmm... suman.

Miranda moment

Yes, indeed, I think I may have had a "Sex and the City" moment earlier this week when I had an $18 hamburger at Joe's Pub. Meghan and I went to see Erin McKeown, a very versatile and talented musician, perform. I swear there's an episode of SatC where they talk about how expensive hamburgers are in Manhattan. Somebody tell me I'm not making it up?

Some things you can't explain

I have developed a craving for cornbread and honey over the last five minutes. But this craving will go unsatisfied because I don't have ingredients to make cornbread nor would I know how to make it if I did. Oh, and my dinner will consist of tomato soup because I don't have anything else to eat and it's too cold to make a run to the grocery. Such is life.

Cornbread and honey... mmmmm. I can almost taste it now. Almost.