Eating Our Way Through New York

I sent some pictures in two blogs before this. I still cannot seem to get the picture thing straight. Steve just left and I came to talk to y'all. We had a great time. He was suppose to fly in at 5:00pm Thursday and did not get in till 7:00pm. We were going to go to an open house at my school. I was excited about introducing him to all my new friends. It was not meant to be. He did get here in time to go to the play American Idiot. We made it just in time. It was high energy, and good music we really enjoyed it. Afterwards we ate at a diner. The next day I went to school and Steve played. I sure am glad he was playing in the apt when they came to fix my Internet. I am not sitting in the hall on the floor to write this. On Friday night we had a nice meal at the Gotham Bar and Grill. Steve and my first course are pictured below. Steve also got the Soft Shelled Crab, it was beautiful but we were so excited we forgot to snap a picture. I got the duck presentation and taste equally as good. We walked back to my apt.

Saturday we had brunch at Balthazar's and enjoyed a slow easy meal. Good food, good coffee and some great people watching. We left there to shop, walk, shop, walk and walked right into Little Italy. We found a perfect seat on the corner in the shade. We ordered a small pizza and a glass of wine. We were not even hungry but our feet were tired. The pizza was really good. We had no trouble eating it. We sat next to 2 French women. They could not speak English but we communicated very well. Our feet rested we returned to our walking. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. This is such a great thing to do in New York. It is free, great view, and totally safe. We were told not to do the bridge at night. After the bridge we went all the way to 27Th and 5Th Avenue. Looked around at the shops and things. It was about 5:00pm and we were tired. We walked back to the apt. and got ready to eat. We ate at the Strip House. On the way in I was asked if people really stripped in there. I hope she thought I looked good enough to strip. I told her it was a Steak House and she looked so disappointed. The dessert on the next blog is our dessert. We walked home. I was not worried about calories we walked over 10 miles on Saturday.

Sunday we went to www.minettatavernny.com . We wanted to try the aged beef hamburger. I got the cheeseburger and fries and Steve got the aged beef burger. We cut them in half and tried both. The regular burger won in both our eyes. The aged burger was really good but just did not taste like a burger. I really don't like it when Steve has to leave. I will be home next weekend for 3 days. I am excited about sleeping in my own bed.


I will write again this week. I have so many great pictures from school. I may send a bunch of small blogs to catch up.
Yvonne

Just Some More Pictures

I tell you a view like this is pretty awesome. We had such great weather.


Standing out side the restaurant.





Dessert at the www.striphouse.com Pretty cool looking. To much chocolate for me but I found parts I could eat. We had some of the best sides. Truffle Creamed Spinach and ripped potatoes. These potatoes were baked, ripped apart, fried, then smothered with parsley, sea salt, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Just some pictures

Dinner at www.gothambarandgrill.com Shrimp Risotto.




Lunch at balthazar's a egg florentine. I love those flavors together. Some people would not but I find them conforting.


Getting started across the Brooklyn Bridge. Great weather and a great walk. Awesome view and it"s free.

We Dined

Steve and I ate at Scarpetta's. We strolled to our restaurant about 18 blocks away. It sounds long but not really a bad walk. The weather was great and the people watching was better. On our way there was a news truck and photo shoot outside a restaurant on the way. We gaulked like the rest of the world but never saw anything. The rest of the walk was uneventful. The first course was a fried mix: vegetables, calamari, shrimp, fish, and all kinds of tasty morsels. It had no dipping sauce but did not need it. The batter was so favorful. Steve dish was veal wrapped in procuitto. It was tender and I wished I ordered it. I ordered the homemade pasta with shaved black truffles. My dish was not to shabby. I had never had truffles. These were pretty good. I am told the white ones are better. I will see in Italy. They will be in season and I am one hour away from where they grow.


The wine was very nice. Steve wants to order Italian so we can learn. He is not as fond of Italian Wines as I am. This choice was perfect. A very romantic evening and a taxi ride back to my apartment.

I will post some small blogs to get caught up on my pictures. The pictures are the best part.
Yvonne

Looking For New York Cheesecake

Here are some pictures of pizza day. This was a fun day. The first is Irene, she stays at my place on the mornings we have a 8:00 class. She takes a train in everyday. The second picture is Michael. I have not worked with him yet but a really nice guy. This one is Courtney. So nice and friendly. She is from the Virgina Beach Area. We have such a nice class I am really lucky. The last picture is my Calzone. I made it when Cindy was here so I did a vegetarian roasted vegetable with cheese and tomato sauce. As you can see it was great.

Now for last weeks blog.


Lindsay was with me this weekend. It was so good to have her here. The start of the week we did ORGANS.
Is there anything about ORGANS that really sounds good? The liver and onions were OK. Never my favorite, I can eat it. Steve and my good friend Pam always say they love liver and onions. Over the years we have gone to several restaurants that boast good liver and onions, but they never order them. So do they really like them? The sweetbreads were not bad, much better than I expected. I could eat them but would never seek them out. THE TRIPE WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is all I will say. I think I told you we need to taste everything, Chef says it is very important. We moved on the next day to meats. Everyone in the class was very happy. We cooked pork chops with the bone Frenched, (that is when they scrape the bone end and make it real pretty).
I had a great lunch that day. The rest of the week was Lamb and veal. When Lindsay got here Thursday night at 9:00pm she was hungry. She had duck confit, and pork ragu we made. I don't think she was disappointed with here selections. On friday she played while I went to school. Friday night we went to a Mexican reataurant for guacamole and sangria. We walked around Soho for a several hours and decided on Lure to eat. I wrote about it before, Steve and I went and really enjoyed it. We had a great meal. We shared a beet salad and crab claws. Lindsay got a tuna dish and I had the scallops. She loved hers and my scallops were great. The pasta vegetable dish was a little flat. My chef would say it needs alittle salt or you need to season that to brighten up the flavor. If you go out to eat, you eat alot of salt, Do not fool yourself into thinking you eat low salt. Before it hits the table there is lots of salt applied, and it hardly taste as if there is any. We tried for cheesecake but they did not have any. Lindsay wanted a New York Cheesecake. So on Saturday we set out to shop. We found some great deals. It is suprising the great prices you can find here, high and low. Lindsay was looking for the low and was not disappointed. We put the bags in my room and went to see Eat, Pray, Love. The movie was fun. I liked when they spoke Italian. I could make out what they were saying without reading the captions. After the movie we went to Commerce Restaurant. The meal was excellent. Our table was in a traffic zone, so that could have been better. We kept seeing a whole chicken go by, it was a shared meal. Then they would bring it back and cut and serve. We think we should have tried the chicken. No complaints on our meals. We shared a salad with blue cheese on top a light blue cheese dressing. The dressing was a soft flavor not overpowering at all. The slice of blue cheese was so creamy it melted in my mouth. Needless to say we were sorry we shared it. Lindsay had the carbonara, It was really nice. I has the pasta with spicy sausage ragu. I won!!! The bread at this place is so so good: little pretzels, these tiny clouds of goodness, and rolls that were so hot and soft. You should just go for the roll basket, but the rest of the food was to good to turn down. Lindsay was still looking for her cheesecake. We were not finding it here. We walked back and were going to get a piece at Rocco's but it was closed for vacation. I could not believe it. Well she was leaving on Sunday and still did not find her cheesecake. So at 8:00am being the mother that I am, went in search of cheesecake. I had a good exercise but I found it. She was very happy with the cheesecake for breakfeast. Most of the pastry shops don't put out cheesecake until later in the day. She left after lunch and I was sad. Started on that blasted Italian and soon was to frustrated to be sad.
er

NO INTERNET FOR DAYS

I just wrote my blog and tried to send it. It is lost in ciber space. I am very frustated. I am standing in the hall, proped on the rail, To get this signal. It comes and goes. I will try after they fix my internet . I still have a signal so I will say, write to you later.
Yvonne

Relief, Relief, Relief

I wanted to start this week with some pictures but for some reason it will not let me. Lindsay is coming to see me this week maybe she can help. I will do a post with just pictures when I get it figured out. This week was a big week. On friday of last week we had a Italian test. Then on monday we had a theory, practical and a evaluation. The theory was the written part, the practical was cooking and the evaulation was from day one. Then on friday this week we had another theory test. I am happy to say I did really good on everything. I can't spell for S!@#$$ but I will try to get better. I also found out I passed my safe serve. That I was worried about.

On the practical we had to make Caponata and Ravioli with swiss chard and ricotta. We were timed and watched. Our stations had to be clean and organized at all times. The food had to be ready by a certain time. Not a minute before or a minute after. If you are working at a restaurant and you have your food early it is not good, and if it is late it is still not good. So we were learning to adjust our time and prepare some thing ahead. It was exhausting but kinda neat. Did I tell ya'll I HATE BEING TESTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I do. I think I am to old to be tested. I just wish they thought I was to old to be tested.

This week was Chicken, game birds, and some beef. The chicken was real good at first then we were all tired of it. We made Breaded cutlets with tomato and arugula salad, Chicken scaloppine with lemon and wine with egg fettucini, chicken liver crostini, roast chicken with roasted potatoes, grilled chicken, chicken cacciatora, roasted duck, confit duck leg, roasted guinea hen with mushrooms, braised squab, grilled quail with fregola. Then we moved on to beef: meatloaf and polenta with stewed beans with tomato, stuffed and rolled beef, and braised oxtail. Well all in all most were good. We have to try everything. Some things surprise us and are better than we think, and some thing are exactly the way we think. My favorite was the roasted chicken. It was better than any roasted chicken I have ever eaten and so pretty to look at. The next was the quail with fregola.

Steve came into town on friday. We had reservations to eat at 10:00pm but we got there early and could seat us. Great restaurant www.scarpettanyc.com We ordered a martini and a cosmo and enjoyed looking through our choices. The first course was a plate of fried seafood and vegetables very tall and looking alot like a upside down basket. the batter was so spicy (not hot) just full of flavor. They give the recipe on their web page. You never knew what you were eating until you put it in your mouth. Every bite was a good surprise. Steve ordered the veal wrapped in prosciutto, it was so tender and the flavors were. I can hardly do it justice. It screams, where can I buy veal like that? If I got the veal I just hope I could make something taste that good. Well I guess that is why I am going to school and he has a successful restaurant. The next night we went to www.themermaidnyc.com . It is a very small place with small tables. I really hate small tables. The food was very good. We ordered sauted calamari with wilted greens and goat cheese, very different and very good. Steve got the crab cake and I got fish and chips. We were both very happy. I wanted something not Italian or healthy. Boy was I NOT dissappointed. The breading was flaky and brown, not greasy. The chips were chips. Have I ever had a bad chip? I probably have but so many good ones outnumber the few bad ones. I really enjoyed the change in diet. Steve's crabcake was very good. It had very different spices, we tried to figure it out without success. Well back to reality. Steve left today. Always a bad time. I really miss him. I think he misses me too. Back to the grind. I have some Italian to study.
Talk to ya'll next week
Yvonne

Wow What A Week!!!!!!

Well you all know I was late posting my blog last week because my flight was cancelled. I got into New York at 7:30 am and thought I would get to school on time. This was not in the cards. We (Cindy and myself) were in a cab for 2 1/2 hours. I was finally at school at 11:00 am and still got deducted 5 points from my grade. I was not happy about that but not much I could do about it. I missed making the Spaghetti alle vongole, ( Spaghetti with clams). I was not upset, I can take clams or leave them. The rest of the day was great. We Made Rigatoni con melanzane, (Rigatoni with eggplant), Spaghetti Alla Carbonara, and Orecchiette Con Cime Di Rapa, (Orechiette With Broccoli Rabe). Cindy was excited when I got home with all this great food. We went shopping for shoes and came home to study. Tuesday was Gnocchi day: potato gnocchi, ricotta gnocchi ( also called Gnudi), Gnocchi alla romana (semolina Gnocchi), and Strozzapreti (Swiss chard and bread gnocchi). This was nothing but fun, fun, fun. We learned to shape, cook, and of course eat Gnocchi. Wednesday I took my test for serving safe food, not to sure I passed, will let you know when I do. It was a lot harder than we all thought. After the test we spent the day doing Risotto. Good eats all day and dinner. Parmigiana Risotto, Risotto con Funghi, and Farrotto Primavera, most of us had to redo our first risotto but after that we were set for the day. The mushroom risotto was awesome, and the farrotto was really good. If you would like any recipes just email me and I will see you get them. We moved to eggs on Thursday. Eggs with spinach, I was in heaven. I only got to eat a bite or two but wow. A salad with pancetta and scrambled eggs, again it was really good. It was salty and the wilted salad was just right. I will make this again. Onion frittata was next. Very tasty but best of all, I flipped that thing. The first try was not so good but I put it back together. You know the way Julia childs did in the movie Julia and Julia. After putting it back together I bravely tried again a success. Wow was I excited. We made crepes with spinach also very tasty. Then ended the day making pizza dough.

Cindy and I went for pizza and a walk through Little Italy. We had a new martini called a Lemoncella martini, Lemoncello and vodka. It tasted like an Italian ice. We tried to take it slow. The week is just flying by. Friday was Pizza day: Pizza Margherita, Pizza Bianca, Calzone, Focaccia, and Grossing. I think you know what everything is, but maybe not the Grissini. The long thin crunchy Bread sticks. These are easy and really good. Today I am giving you a great Focaccia recipe. This on is for you Patsy. I promised you a good easy Focaccia.
Focaccia Bread
Yield: 1/2 sheet pan
7 g active dry yeast
300 g warm water
3 g sugar
150 g extra virgin olive oil
550 g all-purpose flour
3 g fine salt
coarse salt as needed
extra virgin olive oil as needed, for drizzling

Procedure

1. Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and let stand until foamy, 2-3 minutes
2. Add olive oil, flour, and fine salt and mix by hand until the dough comes together.
3. Knead on slightly floured surface until smooth, velvety, and elastic, about 5 minutes.
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl then oil the top of dough to prevent from getting a crust. Cover with plastic wrap.
5. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. To make the dough a day ahead , refrigerate the dough after it has risen 30 minutes, punch down, cover and chill.
6. Stretch the dough to fit a rectangle pan then press into an oiled half sheet pan sprinkle with polenta. Brush the surface with oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Cover with plastic and let rise again until almost doubled.
7. Press indentations into surface of the focaccia with oiled fingertips.
8. Bake at 350 until golden brown on top, about 25 minutes.

You can add herbs or topping as you like.

Now the good stuff. My friend Cindy and I went to L'ecole, www.frenchculinary.com/lecole They have a a price fixed menu. We tried for a reservation and could not get in so we settled for eating at the bar. This ended up being a good choice. We started with a cosmopolitan and chatted with the other dinners at the bar. My first course was a version of a Nicoise Salad without any greens. The seared tuna, potato, green beans, quail egg and a hot sauce on the side, was as good as it was beautiful. Cindy got a baby beet salad with a sherry vinaigrette. Second coarse was polenta with some really nice sauces and flavors. My duck was oh so good. Desert: Blackberry and peach tart with pistachio ice cream, Lavender cake with apples on top, and some good coffee. We walked back to my apartment. Saturday night was another great night. My chef told me about a restaurant named Peasant, www.peasantnyc.com This was another great night. It worked so good the first night we had a Cosmo. A Margarette Pizza with peppers, A cows milk cheese with roasted tomatoes, great bread and olive oil with ricotta. Second coarse a glass of wine and mushroom Gnocchi for me and vegetable risotto for Cindy. We passed them back and forth. We could not decide which was better. Coffee and peach tart with white chocolate Gelato. We again walked home. Both restaurants are about 1 1/4 miles away. The walk home helped with burning some of the calories. I think I am stretching it but it helped justify the food. No pictures this week. This Internet will not let them download for whatever reason.