East River.
Taken at Brooklyn Bridge Park
oh how i love these cookies. why don't i make them year round? i always just feel like i can only cook them when October rolls around, but they are soo comforting and delicious! they are a bite of fall in your mouth. they have a cake-like, moist consistency that i really enjoy. the recipe is very simple and basic and is perfect for doctoring any which wayyou like. like more cinnamon? feel like adding nutmeg? or nuts? this is a great, basic recipe for that. hoon likes it with less spices so i keep ours pretty simple, but they are still delish. enjoy!
pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions:
1) Combine all the ingredients and mix well. (original recipes says to mix some parts separately and then add in but i'm too lazy for that and they still taste good)
2) Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes until lightly brown and firm.
The other night we got together with Hyeku and her friend, Tom, to spend an evening in Chinatown. We LOVE going to Shanghai Cafe for their soup dumpling's but Tom is an NYC native born and raised in Chinatown so he wanted to show us some new spots. On our way to the restaurant we passed by the huge entrance to the Manhattan Bridge and the sign welcoming drivers to the city. Kind of apropos for us NYC newbies.
As if we hadn't stuffed our faces enough, we stopped by Tai Pan for my favorite Chinese pastry: egg custard tarts. Oh mama. Even Serious Eats agrees that this place is one of the best in the city for those little treats. The lady in the picture looking at the camera was telling me "NO PICTURES" but I couldn't help myself. We also got a couple coconut buns and I think a lemon roll number. And FINALLY, we stopped by TenRen's Tea Time for a lychee boba drink. So much good food, and that's just 1 neighborhood! I think we're going to like living here...
So we're still getting settled in NYC (I'll cry and complain about that later) but of course we have time to make food a priority. Our friend and chef, Harold, told us that the Exec Chef from the best restaurant in the world, Noma, would be cooking and presenting in Union Square. So we went to check out this "Nordic Cookout." It was really cool to see actually. A ton of people came and we got to hear Rene Redzepi speak about his world famous restaurant in Copenhagen and his philosophies on cooking and food. He was speaking with Editor in Chief at Food and Wine magazine, Dana Corwin, and the discussion was really interesting, not to mention it helped pass time while we waited in line to taste his delicious food. We tried savory ebelskivers, salmon with cheese, some kind of pork dish, a little potato bite and a piece of delicious cake. Very simple clean flavors but done to perfection. It was a really cool experience and probably the only way we'd get to try Noma! A little taste of the Nordic here in NYC...
Before we up and moved to NYC, I had the pleasure of eating at Gjelina with some of my coworkers. Not only did I share great company, but they were all super patient with me and let me take pictures of all their dishes! Kind people, I say. Now we're getting settled here but I had to share the photos I snapped, they're too delish not too! I loved everything I tried there and the space is really cool. We got there right around 11am when they opened but not long after we arrived the place started to fill up. I would definitely recommend trying Gjelina but only if you have time to wait as I understand the dinner wait gets pretty long or try going for brunch and get there first thing to grab a seat on the patio!
Crab salad
Grilled peaches with burrata and proscuitto - delish!
Braised pork meatballs
Lamb sausage and tomato confit pizza
Lamb Hamburger - so tasty and juicy!
Wonderfully prepared carrots - cooked to perfection - no mush at all.
This was amazing - butterscotch pot de creme with salted caramel w/ creme fraiche. WOW!! Must save room for this.
I believe this was some kind of pie, banana creme perhaps? It was good too.
Hat tip to my brother in law for first teaching her this trick. We were half way there with the high fives though...
saturday we headed out to check out the hottest sandwich shop in town right now, ink.sack. after seeing this review on serious eats we were dying to get over there. we got there just before 12pm and it turned out to be perfect because within 15 minutes the place filled up and there was a line out the door. everything was really delicious. the sandwiches are small and only cost between $4 - $6 so we tried a few. we ordered the cold fried chicken sandwich, the jose andres aka "the spanish godfather," and the maple pepper turkey melt, a side of bbq pork rinds and some vintage sodas. mama!! we could not decide which one was our favorite but I think i was really leaning toward the turkey sandwich because of the camembert cheese and candied fruit - sweet and savory, baby! definitely gotta go back and try the rest of the menu!
this weekend we had a grand ol' time just hanging out and enjoying where we live. friday night we walked around downtown with chloe and hit up pete's cafe. we've been a few times now, but this time we grabbed a seat on the patio and took in the summer air.
spotted on the walk: hipster couple with matching hats. presh.
my most favorite thing at pete's and what i REALLY wanted to go there for is the blue cheese fries. if you like blue cheese at all, you will love these. seriously. amazazing. i could eat the whole thing by myself. easy. even chloers found something on the menu. ok it was just water but the server brought it out for her and it was really nice of him. oh yeah we also ordered a salad or something and some chicken stuff that was pretty good but i was really just focused on those fries!
after dinner we were walking home and hoon was talking about how he needed a haircut so I told him he should check out Bolt Barbershop. they're open late and dog friendly he slipped in for a quick cut. its such a dudes place. they serve you free rootbeer (amongst other drinks) and have dog treats so me and chloe hung out while he got his hair did. he had never been to a barber before! imagine that! the barber took his time and definitely did a better job than his flowbee...just sayin....
saturday we lazed around for most of the morning. literally. we blew up our air mattress in our living room and laid on it while we watched tv. it was awesome. isn't that what saturdays are for? then when we decided to actually get up we decided to hit up one of our new favorite spots, TiGeorges. it's a small Haitian restaurant that is deelish. we love to get started with some freshly made Citronade. Not quite lemonade but has a unique, different flavor that i loove. this time around we tried a new app - kassav bread with herring chiktay. i dont really know what that is but it's haitian and TiGeorge himself recommended it. followed shortly thereafter was the real star - roasted chicken with beans and rice. oh my. i could eat those beans and rice every day. every single day. i need to figure out how to make that asap. after dinner we went to the americana and shopped, checked out the new apple store and saw crazy stupid love. it was cute. and i got popcorn so thats pretty much the makings of a great day.
our final meal of the weekend was the mac n cheese pizza from pizzanista! i saw them post about it on facebook and knew we pretty much had to have it. sounds gross and awesome but its just pure awesome. i didn't know how the mac n cheese part would translate but it totally worked. the crust was crispy and crunchy and the pasta was a soft and cheesey and it was perfecto. definitely a heavy dish but good for a treat. and a party because the pizza was big. yum.
