Wednesday, February 24, 2010
>The NEW Spice on 8th & 22nd>>
Monday, February 22, 2010
>Woo! for Woo>>
Friday, February 19, 2010
>F for FASHION, FOIE GRAS & FRIDAY>>
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
>EXAMTIME>>
So I just re-took my wine exam required for ICE's "Premier Cru" wine certificate.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
>M is for monday - off - that's good enough for me>>
For our wine, the first one we had was a Foreau Sparkling Vouvray. Very nice. It had a bouquet that seemed to bloom in your mouth and nice, creamy bubbles. David told me he had had this one once before at a wine tasting in France and it was one of his favorites.
For our second wine, we had the Spago Nero Prosecco. Now usually when I'm at a restaurant and having some cava or prosecco by the glass I'm not very happy about it (aside from the $10 savings per glass compared to champagne). But this prosecco was not 1 smidgen short of being divine! (For a prosecco at least.) On the nose: very yeasty and very fruity--what a lovely combination. And at just $13 a bottle, a definite steal!>>
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
>JUST IN>>
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sherry and Sardines
Inwood foils cooking plans, once again.
Monday, February 8, 2010
>scrappin around>>
Saturday, February 6, 2010
>FRENCH MACAROONS & FOIE GRAS>>
So today, I am off. I spent the afternoon in the old 'hood (UWS) with David. One of our first stops was at Toast (105 & B'way) for a tasty brunch. Next, we stopped at Silver Moon Bakery, just across the street to pick up some bread. We also picked up some post-brunch sweets including a little box of French Macaroons and a frosted heart-shaped cookie for myself (I have a strange fondness for anything frosted pink).
Next, we dropped off my beloved patent leather Ferragamo 'Party' slip-ons at the shoe repair next to Silver Moon. Thursday at work (I don't know why I even wore them to work on a Thursday, I usually save them for weekends), while I was passing through the kitchen to make myself a plate of "family meal", I tore the side of my shoe on a piece of metal sticking out from the bottom of a gnarled filing cabinet. The horror!!
When I told our chef's daughter what had happened, instead of offering to repair/replace the shoes, she just said,
"Now your shoes are ruined."
--Thanks.
Oh well, I did get a good year's worth of use out of them. And I'm still going to wear them, they just won't be the sparkling diamond they once were...
Anyway, Restaurant Week is almost over (one more day) and then I have 2 days off - in a row! - before my schedule from Hades begins. Starting Wednesday, (the day before Fashion Week kicks off) I will be working the dinner shift 5 days in a row, all the way to Sunday. Which means, not only will I be manning the podium for all the mayhem which is about to befall us during Fashion Week, but I will also be there Sunday night for Valentine's Day. I'm going to need the biggest martini ever when it's all through.
But for now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my day off with a bottle of Casal Garcia which David bought for us to enjoy along with our dinner; and then we'll end our meal with our petite macaroons from Silver Moon and our latest Netflix flick, Raisin in the Sun.
And as promised, I'm going to talk to you about Foie Gras. Now I know that eating Foie Gras is controversial; hence, I've unofficially limited my consumption of it to no more than once a year. But this year, I went a bit overboard. So no more Foie Gras for me until 2011 (or at least my birthday).
I was confessing my guilt to M.G. over my recent added Foie Gras consumption when she told me that not all Foie Gras is made unethically. Apparently, you can get Foie Gras upstate where they let the birds eat freely, ad libitum. Surprised with the news, I decided to do some research on how I could find this "ethical Foie Gras."
It turns out, that in South Dakota there's a farm, Schiltz Goose Farms, that produces a Foie Gras alternative. They call their product: Late Harvest Fatty Goose Liver.
During the winter, geese have a natural instinct to fatten their liver prior to migration, hence the name, "Late Harvest." In order to procure the naturally fattened liver, the slaughter must take place during the winter, prior to migration. Therefore, you end up with a seasonal product, available only in very limited quantities.
Also, from the Spanish producer, Patería de Sousa, comes an award winning Foie Gras alternative, Ganso Ibérico. While the gavage method of force feeding is required to meet the French legal definition of Foie Gras,
producers outside of France are not bound to this tradition. Hence, Pateria de Sousa can call their goose liver product Foie Gras, even though it, in fact, is not.
But those of you that feel French gastoronomy supercedes ethics, may want to take a peek at Zabar’s Foie Gras offerings. In their catalog, there are 4 different kinds of Foie Gras (which they ship to you in 1 day). They offer an authentic goose Foie Gras with Truffles ($65 for a 7 oz. block); Three Little Pigs bloc de Foie Gras Canard (duck Foie Gras) made with Sauternes wine ($37 for 6 ½ oz.); D’Artagnan Medallion Duck Foie Gras with Truffles which is laced with both Sauternes and black truffles ($29 for 6 oz.); or they also offer a D’Artagnan Mousse of Duck Foie Gras ($28 for 8 oz.).
Thursday, February 4, 2010
>TH for thursday + this & that>>
Monday, February 1, 2010
>mmmm... for mondaaayy>>
What did I think of it? It was a little chalky. Nevertheless, we cleared our plate (we ordered one to share), but I don't think we'll be ordering Sweetbreads again anytime soon. (But who knows, that's what I said about their Beef Marrow and now it's now one of my favorite dishes there.) We also shared a dozen Malpeques (mmmm..) and our server threw in a complimentary lobster claw as well. 1 Cava and 1 Ketel & Tonic later, we got our check and both headed North again for home. --A low key BR night, I'd say. Although, one hour and thirty seven minutes later, I woke up at 225th street in the Bronx with the train conductor shouting over the loud speaker: "Either you're in, or you're out!" -- I was out.