My very good friend, Ariel, just got back from a summer vacation in Paris, London, and Ireland. Since he was gone during my birthday, he offered to buy me something from Paris (I’m not sure I say this enough, but I really do have the best friends in the world). I told him that I wanted macarons from Paris, and not just ANY macarons, I wanted macarons from TWO PLACES: Laduree and Pierre Herme. On my family’s last trip to Paris, we didn’t have time to go to Pierre Herme because I was on my deathbed for the majority of the trip, but we did make it to Laduree on our last day to buy lots of macarons that I hand carried all the way home. Ariel asked for addresses and flavors I wanted and didn’t PROMISE to bring back any since he wasn’t sure how much time he had to visit the two bakeries, but he delivered (I KNEW HE WOULD!)
Laduree’s macarons were beautifully presented in a decorative box:
Pierre Herme:
I sent Ariel an e-mail telling him which flavors I wanted (just the usuals like chocolate, vanilla, raspberry, pistachio) and Ariel went above and beyond by buying a TON of macarons from Laduree and Pierre Herme! The macarons from Laduree:
The people at Laduree were making fun of Ariel when he went to the store because he had the Pierre Herme bag with him and was buying more macarons (in his defense, sometimes you just can’t get enough of a good thing!) The macarons from Laduree didn’t keep as well as the ones from Pierre Herme; some of them were a little stale, but the fruit-based macarons (raspberry and strawberry) kept very well. My favorites from Laduree were caramel, dark chocolate, and raspberry. They got a little smushed during the trip home, but they were still very delicious.
The Pierre Herme macarons were still pretty fresh:
The buttercream was a lot smoother at Pierre Herme than the ones at Laduree AND the macarons still had a very good texture. Ariel said they gave him full-sized samples of the macarons while he was in the store and he also bought some other desserts to eat that he really enjoyed. My favorite flavors from Pierre Herme were chocolate, jasmine tea, and pistachio. We paired all of the macarons with vanilla gelato from Ciao Bella and sparkling water from my Sodastream. I decided to freeze the ones I didn’t finish (we ate about 1/2 of the boxes when Ariel came to deliver them) and now the box is almost completely gone because I’ve been eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Thank you for the wonderful birthday present, Ariel!
Soon after I returned from my trip overseas, Ariel, Joe, and I met up for dinner at Cafe Habana. Joe’s friend recommended the place and told him three things: 1. order the mojitos, 2. the corn is delicious, and 3. they don’t take reservations. Joe and Ariel were on time and for some reason I was incredibly late, so we ended up waiting quite a while for our table (sorry guys!) The wait wasn’t too bad because we were able to catch up on what the three of us have been doing since we last got together; Joe’s looking for a new job, Ariel was planning his trip to Europe, and I had just gotten back from my trip and was planning a trip to North Carolina for the weekend. When we eventually got to our table, we were starving and decided to share a bunch of different dishes. Practically every table had at least one order of corn, so we decided to get an order as well (only two come in an order but one of the guys decided they didn’t want corn):
The woman at the table next to us removed all of the cotija cheese, lime, AND chili powder (basically anything GOOD) and decided to eat the corn plain…but why order Mexican style grilled corn if you’re not even going to eat it the way they intended? I’d never had Mexican style grilled corn before my Cafe Habana experience but I always see people eating it at street fairs; the creamy cheese is really the most delicious thing to pair with corn. The chili powder makes it slightly hot, but don’t worry because it’s immediately cooled by the lime and creamy cotija cheese.
For our entrees, we ordered fish tacos (beer battered catfish, cabbage salad, spicy crema and salsa negra with rice and beans):
I’ve also never had fish tacos before Cafe Habana but these were large chunks of freshly fried catfish with a refreshing side of salsa and crunchy cabbage (for someone that eats out as much as I do, I apparently haven’t experienced a lot!) Also, I’m usually not a huge fan of black beans and rice, but these were really well seasoned and reminded me of the black bean sides I used to eat at Mad Mex, one of my all time favorite restaurants (only the one by CMU’s campus in Pittsburgh)
We also ordered the cuban sandwich (roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese and pickles on pressed Parisi’s bread with french fries):
Cafe Habana’s cuban sandwich was voted the best in NYC, but I didn’t think it was amazing because the ham and the Swiss cheese were still a little cold but the roasted pork was hot.
My favorite entree of the night was Joe’s pick – Caribbean style citrus-marinated pulled pork with rice and beans:
The citrus helped make the roasted pulled pork a lot less heavy than I expected and it was definitely the best dish of the night. The portion was also really large and it was only $10.75!
Me and Joe while we were waiting for our food:
The things I didn’t like about Cafe Habana: the bathrooms were slightly dirtier than expected and the mojitos weren’t that great (although Joe and Ariel did order two, so I think they liked them) . However, the food was really good, the service was speedy and friendly, and even though the restaurant was packed, it wasn’t so loud that I couldn’t hear Joe and Ariel the entire time.
Eric and I met up a couple of weeks ago to grab dinner and catch up on life since we hadn’t seen each other in over a month. Eric has a running list of restaurants he’d like to try and I agreed to go to 5 Napkin Burger because I hadn’t visited yet. Maria said the food was really good and even brought her mom there when she was visiting from Ecuador, so I figured it would be a safe bet.
5 Napkin Burger has a little something for everyone; the menu reminded me of a more casual Upstairs at Bouley because in addition to their burgers, they also have sushi rolls, tuna burgers, and more substantial entrees. We were there for the burgers and somehow I convinced Eric that we should order the burger for two AND another burger to share. We went with the original 5 napkin burger:
All of the meats are from Pat La Freida (also the provider for Minetta Tavern’s Black Label Burger) and the original burger is topped with caramelized onions, gruyere cheese, and rosemary aioli. The burger was greasy more than juicy and the bottom of the bun was too mushy to eat because of the burger grease. Even though it was really greasy, the meat was well seasoned and the rosemary aioli paired well with the ground chuck. We asked for the burger to be cooked medium rare and the burger came out well done (actually, BOTH came out well done) which really annoyed me, but we were starving so we decided not to send both back (and we discovered they were overcooked after we had cut both burgers in half).
The burger for two was a much larger burger with two 8 ounce patties:
The burger also came with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and 5 Napkin sauce:
I was not a fan of the burger; since the bun was so much larger, the meat was pressed into thin pieces and it was really dry (completely different from the other burger). Also, I would’ve preferred a little less bread; it was literally a large loaf of white bread with more condiments than anything. The special 5 Napkin sauce was thousand island dressing (similar to In-N-Out’s), but couldn’t redeem the burger’s dryness.
The burger for two also came with two sides Eric insisted on ordering something on the healthier side, but then I ended up eating all of them:
To give you an idea of how large the burger for two was, here’s a side by side comparison:
So, 5 Napkin Burger wasn’t a complete disaster, but they definitely didn’t cook our meat correctly (which is pretty important for a burger joint). If I ever end up going again, I’m definitely skipping the burger for two and ordering the original burger instead. By the end of our meal, I literally felt like I had to hit my chest to keep my heart beating!
On Monday, I attended the 2010 Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center – here are some of my favorite new confections that were at the show!
These duets are truffles with two fillings – my favorite was the raspberry and peanut butter flavor:
Amella Caramels was started by a husband/wife team and they have three flavors (dark chocolate, passion fruit, and carrot cake; the passion fruit was definitely my favorite):
Happy Goat caramels are made from goat’s milk – they have five flavors and their vanilla bean (the original) is creamy and rich:
These chocolates are all infused with different types of tea:
Chuao chocolates have these great pods that are coming out soon:
My favorite was the firecracker – they have pop rocks type candy mixed with the chocolate so it’s like little chocolate explosions you bite down on:
The Jelly Belly stand had Bean Boozled jelly beans (they used to be the Harry Potter jelly beans) – flavors like rotten egg, pencil shavings, and canned dog food all look like other flavors (buttered popcorn, top banana, and chocolate pudding):
Haribo wasn’t coming out with any new flavors/products, but I did eat a ton of their original gummi bears:
And my favorite gummi product from the show – Goody Good Stuff’s sour gummi bears that are vegetarian/vegan:
Their product is coming out to stores in New Jersey next week and they have a great texture and they use all natural ingredients (the strawberries and cream gummi bears were also probably the cutest little things I’ve ever seen):
A couple of weekends ago, I went home to North Carolina for the Dragonboat Festival. The Chinese Association was having a large party and wrapping zongzi for the occasion, so I decided to fly home to learn how to make the rice dumplings and also to spend time with my mom and her wonderful friends.
The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated every year according to the Lunar Year calendar (this year it was on June 16th). The festival, also known as Duanwe Jie, commemorates the life and death of the loyal minister and Chinese scholar Qu Yuan. While Qu Yuan was initially favored by the king, eventually other court officials sent him to prison on charges of conspiracy.
In the year 278 BCE, at the age of 37, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Milo River. He clasped a heavy stone to his chest and leaped into the water. Knowing that Qu Yuan was a righteous man, the people of Chu rushed to the river to try to save him. People started throwing in zongzi into the river in the hopes of feeding Qu Yuan, thus the tradition of making zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival.
For zongzi, you need the following materials:
Bamboo leaves, cleaned with warm water and then quickly boiled and rinsed to remove any dirt
Sticky rice (for the sweet zongzi, you just need to soak it in water, for savory zongzi, you can soak it in water OR you can add a little soy sauce for extra flavor)
String, for wrapping the zongzi
Filling (red bean paste, green bean paste, lotus paste, or some kind of meat filling)
First, we cleaned the bamboo leaves and cut off the ends of the stems (the stems are too stiff for wrapping):
Here’s some of the sticky rice we used for wrapping the savory zongzi (the color is a little brown because we used some soy sauce to add a little flavoring to the rice):
Red bean paste:
We separated the red bean paste into individual portions and then placed them in the freezer to harden them:
Meat for the savory zongzi (this was marinated with green onions, soy sauce, and water):
Here’s a video tutorial I made with my mom’s friends on how to wrap the zongzi:
Our wrapped zongzi before being cooked:
To cook the zongzi, you can either place them in boiling hours (for 3 hours) OR you can use a pressure cooker and cook them for 45 minutes. Here’s one of my mom’s friends, Auntie Zhu, filling the pressure cooker with water:
The zongzi rice is infused with the flavor from the bamboo leaves and any other flavorings you add to the rice. My mom’s friend, Auntie Wangling, grows a lot of vegetables and fruits and adds olive flowers to the sweet rice zongzi that makes them delicious! Zongzi are really fun to make and they can be made year-round, not just for the Dragon Boat Festival!
