Westchester Adventure

Last weekend, Kevin took me on an adventure for a surprise lunch at a fantastic farmer's market in Westchester. Once I realized where we were going, I got super excited.  Not only because I'm obsessed with surprises but I knew a lunch surprise by Kev involved some type of great food.  What I didn't expect was the great view of the Hudson.

Three Course Lunch: The Dutch

As usual I get the majority of my FOODIE related news from my favorite website Eater NY.  According this article; The Dutch has started to offer a $28- three course lunch menu.

Doors Shut - Still Worth Mentioning! (Vandaag)

After finding out via this Eater.com article, that Vandaag in the East Village had closed; I felt it was necessary to finally post my experience there.  While there, enjoying a nice lovely brunch and taking pictures of my food, our waitress even gave me a business card and asked that I send any good pictures.  Being the procrastinator that I am, I kept meaning to do so but just never got around too it.  I guess now is my chance!!!  

Vandaag is a Northern European, Dutch-ish restaurant.  The flavors and details that went into preparing the dishes was awesome. The food was great, Kevin can even be quoted as saying "I just want those balls all the time" - referring to the oxtail balls we ate.  If you like peas and cold soup, I found the Spring Pea soup to be delightful. 

 I even loved the way the tables were set up, with the flowers and the green carafe of water.

The Last Diet

So I caved and finally joined twitter, I know I honestly couldn't believe it either.  Now that I'm officially tweeting, I've found yet another thing to do on the train into work.  This morning, Andrew Zimmern, shared a fantastic article on the food industry in America.  It was enlightening, to say the least.  

Mark Hyman, M.D. wrote the article, The Last Diet You Will Ever Need and I must say it has made me want to continue to eat healthy, fresh, local, seasonal and non-processed foods all day every day.  It also makes me feel sick that on our way home from Boston this weekend, KFitz and I ate McDonalds.  In general, we've tried to eat healthy, buying only fresh veggies and lean meat but reading this article even the fresh veggies are being processed and not produced fresh from a local farm.  Either way, I think everyone should read this article and live by it!!! 

CLICK HERE TO READ

Year one: American Thai

It's been awhile (about a little over a month) and I apologize immediately for my neglect. I started a new job and began the most famous time of year of us media buyers; UPFRONTS!!!  But let's be honest, this isn't a real excuse as to why my post on Kin Shop is soooo late.  I mean KFitz and I went there to celebrate knowing each other for a whole year, which was back in Feburary.  Better late than....never???

Since it was our anniversary dinner, deciding on a place was huge for us foodies. We contemplated for weeks; we even made a reservation through opentable at Spice Market. After tons of research, reading lots of reviews and falling in love with Chef Harold Dieterle, we canceled the first res and decided to take our chance at Kin Shop. And what a fantastic decision; not that Spice Market isn't delicious but that's a subject of a larger Jean Georges post.  "Coming Soon"  Obviously, Asian inspired food was the direction we wanted to head in and Kin Shop did not disappoint.  

Over lovely conversation about how great our drinks are, Kev and I shared the Crispy Roti and Tasting of Condiments while we waited for our apps to arrive. We should have had patience to wait to eat the roti with main meal as is proper.  

DRINKS FOR THE EVENING: 

Massa(man)hattan - old verholt rye, vya sweet vermouth, angostura vitters & massaman-brown sugar syrup

The ALN - farmer's organic gin, house-made spicy thai pickle brine & pickled watermelon radis.

Tasting of condiments 

Popovers

Until I went to BLT Steak/Prime, I had no idea what a popover was; after going I made sure I took their recipe with me to cherish for life.  For those of you who aren't familiar with this fluffy, doughy, goodness - see here.

Now, its been a few years since I got my hands on this recipe and I have yet to try it out.  See I don't consider myself a great baker; too much of an exact science and I'd rather just throw ingredients and seasoning into a pan to see how it comes out. A few weeks ago, while digging for a (different) recipe I came across the popovers and said, "hey why not".  I'm such a great girlfriend and we didn't have milk so I kindly asked Kev head to the store to get some - I was making dinner for him!!

Unfortunately, I don't have a popover pan so I just used a mini cupcake pan instead.  It's a really simple recipe; only 5 ingredients.  Although, mine weren't as fantastic as BLT's; for a first timer I'd like to say they were pretty good.  A few things I would have done differently (like not mix the batter so much and actually have Gruyere cheese - I only had locatelli romano which is a great supplement).  I included the recipe below from Epicurious.com  which is literally word for word the same recipe BLT serves with the popovers.

• 3 cups milk 
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 Tbs. kosher salt 
• 6 eggs 
• 6 oz. Gruyère cheese, grated 

Place the popover pan in the oven. Heat the oven and pan at 350". Gently warm the milk over low heat and set aside. Whisk the eggs until frothy and slowly whisk in the milk (so as not to cook the eggs). Set the mixture aside. Sift the flour with the salt. Slowly add this dry mixture and gently combine until mostly smooth. Once combined, remove the popover pan from the oven and spray with non-stick vegetable spray. While the batter is still slightly warm or room temperature (definitely not cool), fill each popover cup 3/4 full. Top each popover with approximately 2 1/2 tbsp of the grated gruyere. Bake at 350" for 50 minutes, rotating pan half a turn after 15 minutes of baking. Remove from the oven, remove from the pan and serve immediately.



Hope you all enjoy!!

Food from the heart....

Here are some pictures of food I created at home. (I have to admit I did not make the pancakes, those were courtesy of my brother, Richie. He had them for Jake's bday breakfast). Most of these meals were made with the help of Kev.