Monday, May 26, 2008

Pierrot restaurant


C and I followed some locals into Pierrot late one night in Paris and this is what happens in the wee hours… puppies fall asleep under the table.

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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Tequila!


You say mussels, I say mussles! I love tequila.

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Truffled egg toast


Some would disagree, but Prosecco with breakfast is fantastic. If it comes with a shot of peach nectar, and is called a Bellini, so much the better. When in NYC, the best place to enjoy a glass of the bubbles is at Ino Cafe and Wine bar. Based on Rob's recommendation, I had a glass with the truffled egg toast. I think the picture says it all.

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Vegetarians are retarded

Its funny here. I'm at my dim sum place in San Francisco and sitting next to two Vegetarians. They keep saying they are vegetarian every 30 seconds at every cart. And the servers here are so annoying they must be paid a commission for each item they sell you. The annoying server/vegetarian clash is fun to watch. The vegetarians just ordered water. Vegetarians.

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Saturday, May 17, 2008

"baso de vino tinto y pincho de Chipiron con mue sabor en nueva york"


"glass of red wine and a small plate of flavorful baby squid in new york"

I totally get how chinese and vietnamese restaurant have english menu items like 'sliced ass beef'.

I don't know where I was going with that but anyway, I was in Manhattan waiting for Julie and Mike to fly in for an anticipated NYC dinner at Casellula, and I passed the time with a pre-dinner snack and wine at the Boqueria. Boqueria is my favorite neighborhood tapas restaurant in NYC on 19th and 6th for a pre-dinner multi-glass-of-spanish-red and and a necessary-plate-of-serano-ham-w/crostini and the most delicious-and-tender-baby-squids. The squid is a must try, it will change your outlook on calamari, super tender and tasty with a light olive tapenade. I now totally get the pre-dinner snackn'wine and how necessary it is.

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Monday, May 5, 2008

Apple, Mixed Greens, Walnut, Pecorino & Chicken



Working with limited ingredients always yields unexpected results. This turned out better than expected, and I think it may be my new default meal when I'm too lazy spend more than fifteen minutes on dinner. The dressing is (2-1-1) olive oil, sherry vinegar, lemon juice. Toast the walnuts, cook the chicken, mandolin the apple and shred the cheese. Toss everything together and add a nice bottle of wine.

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Village Creperie



Saturday morning breakfast at the Village Creperie is a must, when in the Loo. Rob ordered a bottle of Quebéc sparkling cidre, and eggs rancheros. I had my favorite – smoked salmon eggs benny. Not shown, but equally enjoyed, a round of fresh-squeezed orange juice with vodka. And for dessert, an Americano with a splash of Baileys. Best followed by a nap, or a walk.

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No-knead walnut bread




Michael and I had an argument at work one day about how stress relieving it is to knead bread dough. Not for me! The idea of yeast as an organism growing and multiplying and the fussy complexities of it cause me kitchen anxiety. So when I found this recipe, I was totally on the NO-KNEAD bread bandwagon. The version I made is a walnut no-knead bread and I toasted the walnuts before throwing them in to bring out the oils and flavour. I like bread dough that's independent and can just do its own thing without any micro-management but this recipe takes almost 24 hours from start to finish so I usually make this quicker no-knead bread now. Equally simple, faster, and with the same crispy, shattery outer crumb and hole-y moist inside. So if you're feeling stressed, breathe in deeply the home-y smell of freshly baking bread.

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Thursday, May 1, 2008

It is the season for salmon (and asparagus)

Julie cooked us a delicious meal tonight, all-together in 20 minutes in the oven. Look at the pre-oven deal, in-season asparagus, with delicious salmon on top, you can imagine how it turned out. Vodka, o/j and pills made it even better.

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Midtown womb room

Julie introduced me to this Ino' ish find Neighbourhoody, comfy, lots of cheeses, good wine, eat and drink at the bar, and... in mid-town NYC. This place is a nice little womb room to relax and eat and drink. Since I always end up in hotels in mid-town lately and am somehow not getting the usual 2 to 3 day gastronomic cushion for new york treats, efficiency has been unusually important and Casellula is the answer when you can't get to the village. Nice little bar snack of Juan Rojo dry fully bodied delicious red with two cheeses recommended by the fromagier of Ossau Iraty french sheep cheese with olive tapenade and Lieb rot cow cheese from Bavaria Germany creamy and slightly stinky with an interesting coffee marshallow thing and followed with a morcilla sausage and roasted pepper crostini. The day before, I had their pigs ass sandwich which was some hot ass. While I waited for a taxi to the airport, I ordered my vodka with o/j on the side, and my theory was happily validated to get a full rocks glass of vodka and a side of o/j. Next thing I knew I woke up on landing in Toronto.

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