Brussel Sprouts & Bacon!....

Claudz got me some brussel sprouts the last time we were @ Karen's making beignets & apple tarte tartins so I decided to test drive them out for Thanksgiving, along with chicken in bacon fat and lotsa rosemary...

and by "we were making beignets and tarte tartins" i mean I showed up uberlate after my NY Urban game and got a sammich nearby and ate while Shanaz made the tarte tartin and the other girls made beignets (and deep fried snickers!) while I noshed and bitched about being sweaty and tired :P more pics of that some other time.

In this version, I had about...3 cups of brussel sprouts halved, sauteed with shallots, pine nuts, and about 1.5 lemons. Didn't have pancetta so I used center cut bacon (b/c it was like..10pm on a Sunday when I decided to do this little culinary experiment and Gristedes isn't exactly...gourmet central :P). Prosciutto would've been nice but it's so thin and when I've crisped them up before it's just TEEEEEEEENY!!

So...I was reading a lot about how to prepare them sprouts--and I opted for a compromise of boiling for 3 min and then sauteeing the rest. I'm going to have to say...I'm going to just nix the boiling and do fullon sauteeing or roasting next time.

I really lament the loss of color w/ boiling and the texture is like any boiled cabbage would be. I think w/ all the layers it's so much better roasted or whatever to maintain the crispness of each layer. It's like if u had a soggy crepe mille cake. EES NO GEWWWD. Crispy! Also...note the diff b/w flash and natural light...

That's brussel sprouts I had in Italy--really really fresh sproutsies! ^_^ boiled, with a little olive oil. granted it didn't taste all that exciting b/c it was fully boiled, but the quality of the produce--YUMMMM. and the sprouts were much bigger than here. I also hafta say...the bacon really darkens and chars the chicken and sprouts well, but since the sprouts were already soft and boiled it didn't add much dimension to the coloring. FULL CHAR NEXT TIME! :)

That's mah full meal. let's hope turkey day sprouts will be much more interestingly plated. Also trying to switch up my cakes this year. still befuddled. HRmmmMMmmmmm....>.O...

I'm also hoping I can buy the brussel sprouts on the stalk at the Union Square farmer's market when my mom's in town (tomorrah!) and we'll be makin' my first Turkey day dinner in NYC!

Almondine!...

We had the bestest sammich EVER today at Almondine!...

Karen & I got the ham and cheese sandwich with bechamel cheeze on top today...and it was gloooooorious and tasty. I don't think it was bechamel inside--maybe it was I dunno...I DON"T KNOW. but the butter Pam got with her bread was very good as well.

THe bread was a little dry/hard as it should be (i forget the type of bread). Granted we came like at 2pm so everything was practically out and I do realize and appreciate the potential of this sammich fresh out the overn and I'd be remiss if I never got to taste it that way but...MY GOD even in its "off" form, it's still so...so very tasty!! The bechamel (never had it before) was a little creamy and more spreadable--blasphemy, but it's like a cross between the Laughing Cow color/texture crossed with Brie.

It was quite an enormous sammich, cut in 2 (and I had some fresh squeezed OJ) and I still couldn't finish it. Fortunately, it was a nice little snackeroo when we were at the Brooklyn Flea in the cold, cold, cold wind. :) YUMMAY!!
Zees was un eclaire i got...

I lurves ze boysenberries!! SO TASTY!! So very....

nom nom nom nom....their custard cream is really good--light, clean, and just a smidge sweet. Great texture too--not too dense or viscous.

This was also my first attempt at bread pudding...

i have to say...not that tasty, but better than I thought. Just a little bland in my opinion--and i also just dont' really get bread puddings to begin with. My friend got me christmas pudding one year, from England...yeaaaaaah i dunno. Rustic I suppose. but not pour moi!!

Okay, gotta cut the commentary short b/c i'm backed up with posts and I gots a post on brussel sprouts and baking adventures with beignets and apple tarte tartins to put up besides all the old stuff from italy!!! ^_^

Here's one more loving peekture of the crusty bechaaaamelllll!!!!

Death by chocolate....cake! in b-burg

Went to brunch @ Relish in Williamsburg on N. 3rd and Wythe. Came late (as I tend to) and noshed on half of Claudia's eggs in casserole (everything was on point, much better than the one at Viceroy b/c it had other elements--potato slices etc that made it a heartier meal), and then the 4 of us split THE CAKE. :)

Quite a decadent little sucker--not as moist as *mine* ;) but ginormous layers + pretty tasty frosting + pretty yummy to begin with cake = yummyYumYUM. HERE's the ODD thing...we all ate it with the whipped cream! We all *had* to eat it with the whipped cream--it was...compulsion beyond comprehension. About halfway thru--we were angling on asking the waitress for another dollop to finish the cake with...except...my god. I normally HATE whipped cream O.o it's just *garnish* like...cilantro! (we'll get to that some other time)

I'm sure the cream was made on premise (or something) or specially sourced since it had none of that airy bland lardy-lightness --> my version of "buttery" in an undelightful (read: uninteresting) slant. We couldn't exactly pin point why the cake tasted so much better with the whip cream--or rather, just...tasted really incomplete without it even tho the cake itself didn't taste like it was lacking. *shrug*. Regardless, it was still magnificent!

I've only wandered in Williamsburg in daylight a handful of times (got some new cords at the Built by Wendy sample sale, my awesomest new winter coat at In God We Trust blahblahblah). Today--LO AND BEHOLD--we came across the Bedford Cheese Shop--which is SO MUCH MORE THAN CHEESE!!!

it's perfectly what I needed after being in Italy and since then avowing to really be good to myself w/ products, produce, artisanal foods etc. I've fallen into a slump of eating just to feed myself and move on b/c I get so carried away with life as a whole and everything becomes such an arduous task (as I tend to make it) that even cooking and eating is laborious.

Will do a full blown post of it some other time....but here's another pic I took there :) They sell jams, pickles, breads, sweets, oils, condiments, snacks--general goods from Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland, Holland--and wherever else. All in one shopping. YESSSS.

This is the same brand as my Oven Roasted Lemon & Thyme Chicken potato chips :) Just mine were Walkers' Sensations and these are regular. MY GOD. i love the british crisps!! :D

...oh what the hell...one more shot of the cake--tipped over! :)

WEEEEEEEE!!!