virtualmom

Restaurant.com

 Last time we went to see Livingston Leo perform, we saw an old friend who works for Restaurant.com.  He gave us his business card which you can convert into a $25 gift certificate at Restaurant.com.  Last night we used this certificate at Il Mattone, on Greenwich Street in Tribeca(next door to Wolfgang's).  Il Mattone is a local place but we had never gone there before.  We ran into some friends--i always like when that happens.  

In any case, the food was totally not exciting, it wasn't terrible but absolutely nothing to write home about.  The bill came out to about $86 for just the two of us(only one alcoholic beverage and no dessert).  We then got $25 off which made it a little more palatable.  But with SO many restaurants in the city-there is not reason to go back.  

The Dragon's Way Diet

I plan to start the Dragon's Way today for the 3rd time!  Years ago my friend Ellen turned me on to Dr. Lu and his 6 week cleansing fast, The Dragon's Way.  I am not the best at explaining the theory behind the fast, but you are supposed to increase the amount of Qi in your body and get rid of toxins while eating basically only veggies and fruits (and some walnuts in the a.m.) for 6 weeks.  You get some Chinese herbs as supplements along the way.

I have done the program twice and have lost weight both times, BUT the thing is that I have gained the weight back very quickly both times as well.  That is why I am hesitant to do it again.  In the meantime, i think I will show up at lunch time and see how I feel--if I want to proceed again or not.

Red Velvet Cake- Failed with the Icing

L. and I stayed up last night making his favorite cake for his sleepover party tonight.  We used the Magnolia Bakery's recipe that is listed on Epicurious.  The cake part we made no problem.  We screwed up with the icing --which called for  heating the milk and flour  until thick and letting it cool to room tempature for half hour then adding to sugar and vanilla. Then you had to put the frosting in the refrigerator for exactly 15 minutes and use it immediately. Well, this didn't work for us!  It was a bummer.  Then L. went to sleep because it was getting late and although I was tired, I stayed up searching the web for more frosting recipes.  Unfortunately all of the recipes i found--I was missing at least one ingredient.  One recipe sounded good but it used powdered egg whites--something I do not have in my cabinet but am going to make a note to get.   This morning I had to run to the store and buy the Duncan Hines pre-made frosting.  Don't know if I should try the Magnolia Bakery recipe again in the future to see what we did wrong?  
 

Robert DeNiro's Restaurant: Dessert Sucked-sorry Bobby Baby, and I do love your acting but...

For La.'s birthday yesterday we took him to Robert DeNiro's restaurant, Locanda Verde on the corner of North Moore and Greenwich Streets in the heart of Tribeca.  The restaurant is in his new hotel, Greenwich Hotel.  

Food was pretty good, except for dessert which was a big let down!  We LOVE desserts and as we do not go out to dinner that much, we really look forward to eating dessert out.  Oh we were so disappointed, concluding that we definitely make better desserts at home!  The only chocolate selection was a chocolate cake with yellow raisins and caramel gelato on the side.  The combination of flavors did not work.  We felt like the judges on some of those cooking shows on TV as we were trying to figure out why they used so many strong flavors together.  The other selection we made was some type of huckleberry pistachio cake that was very bland and overcooked.  Surprisingly terrible.  

Pickle Day 2009

 

We had fun tasting pickles this morning down on the Lower East Side at the 9th Annual Pickle Day.  There was quite a crowd, I did not know so many people were into PICKLES!  Very Cool.

My favorite was this Pickle on a Stick for a buck!  

 
 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

 
We are big Chocolate Cookie Bakers/Eaters in our family.  We bake cookies a lot!  We have actually found some tricks of the trade that truly do improve the final product.  We now do the following steps and our cookies turn out great.

1) Chop up half of the chocolate chips the recipe calls for in your cuisinart.  What this does is give an all around chocolatey flavor inside every bite.  You will now have different size tastes of chocolate and it adds to the overall texture experience as well.

2) Refrigerate the batter.  This works!  I don't know the chemistry of it, whether it is simply the hydration of the wet ingredients soaking into the dry ingredients via time or if the chill is the part that works--but the cookies come out better when we chill our batter.

3) Use parchment paper when cooking.  Again, parchment paper helps with the uniformity of tempature while cooking.  I dod not know what we were missing until I started using parchment paper and now I consider it a necessity.

4) Use an ice cream scooper to scoop the batter into even cookies.  Again, we now always use a scoop and our cookies come out looking great and cooking evenly. 

Here is Jacques Torres recipe, one of the best we have found so far.

Ingredients

Makes twenty-six 5-inch cookies or 8 1/2 dozen 1 1/4-inch cookies

• 1 pound unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 pounds Jacques Torres House (60 percent cocoa) Chocolate or other best-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
3. Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dinner

After I got the teeny, tiny Ipod shuffle from the Soho Apple Store, we ate an early dinner last night at Mezzogiorno and I realized that we have been eating there for almost 20 years! Plus, I order the same thing every time! I always order their Mezzogiorno salad(arugula, artichoke, radicchio, celery, parmesan cheese, and mushrooms) and it is always delicious. Consistency is a great quality for a restaurant to have so that the customer knows what he/she is going to get. Their ice tea is good too. Actually I have liked everything I've ordered there from pastas to their tiramisu. PLUS, you can always get a table without prior reservations. My type of place.

Compost Cookie

Haven't posted in a few days-no reason, just not all that much going on here to write about. We did go to the Milk Bakery in the east village where we tried their COMPOST COOKIE! Our friend Steve said that he didn't like the name of it, too much connection to garbage and fecal matter for him. But I like the name, it is so current, like they are not wasting anything, they are putting the leftovers to use. Apparently they put potato chip and pretzel crumbs in the mix along with other misc. ingredients.
The compost cookie is just one of their creative combinations and truthfully I can't stop thinking about the bakery, have to go back soon. I did not get to try their cinnamon bun pie, the brownie pie, pretzel pie(?), and the cookies with cereal, marshmallows and chocolate chips. The Corn Cookies were delicious(similar to a corn muffin). In any case, the selection was extremely creative and I was thoroughly happy!

Butternut Squash Soup

My Broccoli Cheddar Soup for the Souper Bowl Contest was a complete disaster--it was the worst! BUT I made a delicious curry tinged Butternut Squash Soup the other day that is worth memorizing for many future meals. I am making it again next Tuesday. I jotted it down below. It comes from 'the Contessa's' new cookbook.
3-4 lb. butternut squash(peeled and seeded)
2 yellow onions(cubed)
2 macintosh apples(peeled, cored, and cubed)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh pepper
2-4 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
Condiments:
toasted coconut, cashews,scallions

Coat the squash, onions, and apples in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 425 degrees for 35-45 minutes, tossing occasionally, until tender.
Heat the stock to a simmer. When veggies are done, puree them in a food processor then add to the stock to make a thick soup. Add the curry powder and salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with toasted coconut, cashews, and fresh scallions on top.

Haroset Year Round

Haroset is a Passover Food, which some Jewish families only serve once a year at their Passover Seder, but I eat it year round. It's easy to make, only 4 ingredients: one Macintosh apple, a handful of walnuts(toasted), grape juice (or wine), and cinnamon. You can throw all 4 into your food processor and chop. I like mine loosely chopped with some large apples pieces.
Haroset makes a really healthy, tasty breakfast.
**I think it is about 6 points on WW, a little too high for a regular breakfast(breakfast should be 4 pts) but a nice treat every once in a while.