Recently I’ve been invited to a Greek benefit dinner at Molyvos, whose meal frames around the Greek Orthodox tradition of Lent. Knowing what Lent is, I am a skeptic. I’m an omnivore who loves her meat and dairy. Frankly, I don’t think I can go a day without any dairy since I need a splash of it in my morning cup of coffee. But I bit the bullet, agreed to come and have an open mind to try out Chef Jim Botsacos’ take on the Lenten tradition. (I’m keeping this post short since it’s mainly benefit-focused.)
Entering in the restaurant, I was welcomed with the rustic, warm interior adorned with nautical patterned plates. It feels worn with time and it feels cozy.
I met Chef Botsacos and spoke to him briefly on the take of Lent and food and basically, it boils down to the idea of mimicking textures and flavors to the point that one would feel satiated without the meat and dairy. He’s passionate about this point but as a dessert lovin’ gal who embraces dairy (I’m not a fan of vegan food, by the way), I’m going along with his statement and eat his food.
The raw bar was excellent; filled with fresh mussels, oysters, and cocktail shrimp. You can’t go wrong with raw shellfish unless, of course, you’re allergic.
The most amusing dish was the “octopus pie” (called octopodopita on the menu, pictured on the above right) that the wait staff told me when I was at the buffet table. Crisp, flaky crust filled with meaty chunks of octopus, rice and zucchini. It really made me forget I was eating a pescatarian/vegetarian dish.
The least liked portion of the meal was dessert, consisting of Karidopita Nistisimi (an olive walnut cake topped with blood orange), I forgot what’s the shot glass dessert is called but it’s a loose grape jelly that’s pretty tart and a Melomakarona (an orange honey walnut cookie), unfortunately. Without the eggs and cream, it lacked the lightness and creaminess I desire in my sweets. It was a good try though. If I had to pick the best of the three I tried on that plate, it was probably the walnut cake.
Generally speaking, Chef Botsacos has done a very good job on weaning me away from my meat. Dairy is a whole different topic.
Around the beginning of November, my mom told me one morning that she wanted me to bake desserts for Thanksgiving. This wasn’t news to me since I’ve been baking desserts for my family over a decade. She requested a cheesecake (again, nothing new) and she wanted to indulge herself with a key lime pie. I rolled my eyes and said, “Sure. Just get me some ingredients that we don’t have in the house. I have the chocolate for the cheesecake.” She replied, “Chocolate? For the cheesecake?” I said, “Yes, I want to change things up. I’m tired of making the same [raspberry] cheesecake I’ve been doing for the past several years.”
I still had the bittersweet chocolate baking bar and the cocoa powder from Scharffen Berger (from the previous event they’ve invited me a few months ago) so I should be set. Thing was, I wasn’t planning on making the cookie crust from scratch since my mom kept harassing me multiple times not to waste time by baking – a blatant oxymoron (How can anyone expect desserts made from scratch NOT take time?).
The weekend prior to Thanksgiving, my parents went to their local supermarkets and told me that after visiting three different stores, they don’t carry chocolate wafer cookies. Obviously, I have no choice but to make the cookie crust from scratch now…
My dad, being a sweetheart, offered his help to get his hands dirty for the cookie crust, kneading and mixing the dried ingredients of flour, cocoa powder (admittedly, I used a combination of Valhrona and Scharffen Berger), sugar, baking soda, salt and lots of butter, until it becomes a large blob of cocoa scented dough. Then I sealed it up in plastic wrap, place it in the fridge until Wednesday evening when I have to bake everything off so it can be consumed on Thanksgiving.
Making the TKO cookie dough and the dough blobs
On Thanksgiving eve, I had to roll out the cookie dough into sheets (it’s from the TKO cookie recipe found within the Essence of Chocolate book) and bake it off until it’s hardened and dry but not burnt.
Hello readers! I’m back in NYC over a week ago. I would have written a short post indicating this fact but, uh, I was dying of jet lag. A 12-hour difference and boarding on a 16-hour flight (with insomnia effecting me) doesn’t help my sense of time when I got back home.
I’m going to Hong Kong and visit parts of southeast China this Tuesday, April 28th for the next two weeks. My bags are packed. My passport and visa is in my Alma bag that I’m taking with me (with my heavy 5D Mark II camera and lenses that weighs at least [...]
As my title says, I’m going on a vacation! Not now, but I will be in late April to early May to Hong Kong and the southern part of China! WOOT! I’m finally leaving this continent. It’s been over half my life since I’ve been there. Reasons why I’m flying my butt half way across the [...]
The weekend of my mom’s surgery (that’s two weeks ago), I baked her coconut-lemon sablé cookies. Why? She loves any and almost every coconut dessert or confection and I think cookies are a cinch to bake. I just chose sablés because she likes the crumbly, sandy texture of this rich cookie except she never remembers the name of it. As some of you bakers out there know that sablés are sort of hard to bake because of the texture, I found out from Cook’s Illustrated that there’s a secret to getting it right and it all goes down to… Continue reading “Coconut-Lemon Sablés” »
[Here's my long overdue post on my birthday dinner at Kuma Inn that's taken place on November 7th.]
Kuma Inn’s Entrance and Interior
After having [cref my-birthday-celebration-part-1-cakes-drinks-and-fried-hot-dogs a cocktail at PDT], we (as in Helen, Giulia, Seungmi, and I) all walked down south to the Lower East Side for Asian tapas at Kuma Inn. Since it’s a relatively small group than what I’ve originally planned on, I didn’t bother with reservations even though it’s a Friday night. Continue reading “Dinner at Kuma Inn” »
I know I’m supposed to post food-related reviews and a recipe but the past week sucked for me. I got sick a little over a week ago. Methinks I got the flu or a really bad case of the cold that I can’t breathe through my nose and I’m coughing like a smoker (I don’t smoke, [...]
Today’s technically my mom’s birthday. (I’m not going to divulge her age.) We celebrated a bit more than week earlier. “Why?” you ask. Well, her excuse was the fact that last weekend was the Mid-Autumn Festival and we can nosh on moon cakes (I love the lotus seed filled ones [...]
