Arriving there around 11:25, there was a line out the door but it moves quite briskly (about seven minutes from standing on line ’til receiving my sandwich.) There’s a sign at the registers listing the free sandwiches: Black Forest Ham, Roast Beef, Vine-ripened tomato, and Wild Tuna Salad. Continue reading “AQ Kafe’s Sandwich” »
Probably you’ve read enough food blog posts about Porchetta that your sick about reading it. Well, I’m one of those pesky bloggers who would jump ship to try something relatively new. I’m not saying I’m trying everything new for the sake of being “hip” but more of the idea of loving to get my hands on an awesome sandwich. What made me travel all the way down to East Village from the Upper East Side was for the love of pooorrk. Don’t you know I love pork fat (or any animal fat)? Continue reading “Another Porchetta Review (and a dessert suggestion)” »
For the past week, I had three midterms and a ten-page paper due, all crammed within four days. I was suffering with stress that I want to scream in vexation due to my aching head. Isn’t college life just awesome? At least I survived the roughest week and there’s a little sprinkling of tests for the next two weeks, which the last one would be two days before my birthday. At least my professors spared me of pain and torture on that day. Thankfully.
On Monday, I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast at home, so I head over to Bouchon for the sake of having something before I pass out in class due to low blood sugar levels and my need for caffeine since I stayed up ’til 1 AM; having 4 1/2 hours of sleep isn’t fun.
I know…I said I’ll stop going to Bouchon but then again, they’re kind of my savior for the week since my stressed mind doesn’t want to think where I could eat as well as where I haven’t been to.
Before I start talking about what happened last week, I want to say that I haven’t been able to write anything for the past couple of days because of finals. Yes. The torment that all students of any age especially from high school on, feel the crush of stress and pressure to do well. I’m technically done, except I need to write a philosophy paper but I should be fine…I hope. Moving on.
The most furthest I have ever been from the city happened on the week before my finals. I don’t think that statement made any sense or relation to anything, but I went to Coney Island in Brooklyn.
I know some of you are wondering why I am I not updating or writing my a post this week at all? That’s because it’s an uninspiring week of food. Quite sad I have to say, partly due to the fact that I’m stressed with schoolwork (it doesn’t really end until May 21st – my only first and only day of finals, argh) and the nice weather in New York really prevents me from eating a lot. The latter argument is strange and probably hard for some of you to understand, but when the weather’s getting warmer somehow I’m unintentionally feel like eating less. Anyways, since this is not really much of a food post, it’s going to be more food porn since you’ve seen these things/places before.
For most of the week I’ve been liming (Trinidadian speak for hanging out) in Bryant Park. Since I’m a bit lazy not to go anywhere else to eat (even though I walked from 59th Street & 10th Ave), I just got myself a grilled cheddar sandwich filled with ham, pear, and mustard on cranberry-pecan bread ($6) from ‘wichcraft.
This is to back track everything that has happened the entire week or so. Starting with some homemade bread.
I made this bread before I actually ate out with my aunt (the one who’s visiting from Hong Kong) from my earlier post, at Chung Moo Roo but since I don’t really have a real recipe for you to write about except that it’s a very close derivative of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cinnamon Raisin Bread from The Bread Bible except that I used whole wheat flour (about 15 – 20% total) to make it healthy.
My aunt is somewhat of a health conscious person, so that’s why I did that. However, I did make it a bit “bad” by making a barely sweetened chocolate paste for the swirl portion of the bread. All I did was use about 1/2 cup of unsweetened Valhrona cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar and 3 tablespoons of melted butter and mix it up to a paste and let it solidify to a paste.
Here’s the before and after baking photos: Unbaked loaf
This is a bit of a backtrack post since I wanted to write about my first Shake Shack experience. So, I’ll start from Monday evening, when Robyn got me some macarons, as you have probably seen or read from this post, and some chocolate bonbons from her Parisian vacation last week. Since I’ve ingested my macarons first, I wanted to try Pierre Herme‘s chocolates. Why not? I love his macarons, I’m expecting no less of standards after eating the maccies.
This is basically two short reviews lumped into one. I guess it makes sense, since I don’t want to mix two inexpensive places for something that is on the moderate price bracket (as in Otto, which will be the follow-up posting).The first one up is Oms/b. I ate there around 9:30 AM just because I didn’t [...]
This is basically two short reviews lumped into one. I guess it makes sense, since I don’t want to mix two inexpensive places for something that is on the moderate price bracket (as in Otto, which will be the follow-up posting).The first one up is Oms/b. I ate there around 9:30 AM just because I didn’t [...]
To reiterate what I said, it’s finals week for me and it was a killer for me. My brain feels a bit fried from all the stress for packing in 6 finals within 3 days. It’s ridiculous what colleges do to students. I’m assuming law school would be 5 – 10 times more intense than what I’d faced. Oh well…
Sorry about that sidetrack; going on with food now…
On Tuesday, my literature final was during the late afternoon. So, I took advantage of the ample time of sorts to go to Payard Patissere & Bistro in the Upper East Side at 12 PM for desesrt. If you’re wondering if I eaten anything savory, yes I have but it’s not worth talking/writing about. It’s just a salad. Ok?
When I entered this restaurant/patisserie, it was bustling with lots of activity. I even saw the pastry chef himself, Mr. Francois Payard, helping out the staff in the front placing orders in boxes. Most of the patrons are basically local women who lunch, tourists, and people who want to take a break from power shopping around the area.
So, after browsing through the gorgeous cakes, tarts and pastries. I was faced with the problem of what the heck do I want to eat? I mean, look at them! Continue reading “A Short But Busy Mid-Week: Payard, Swich, Chocolat Michel Cluizel” »
Side view of box
Chocs protected with a plastic cover
Chocolates plated
