EEeeeeeeEEEeeeEEeeeEeeels...

Unagi-don/eel rice bowl. Apparently I have a penchant for poor/country folk comfort foods (see entry on canh chua rau day and whatnot...). I caught the eel with my bare-muscled-hands. The little bastards eluded me numerous times, but just before day's end, one of them darted in my periphery and like a gazelle--or something really crazy phonetically, maybe OCELOT--i went for it and here you have....MY UNAGI RICE BOWL with the...pickled...daikon...or something. BEHOLD:
I frolicked home with the eel in my little reed basket. (I keep thinking of the poem "L'Anguila" or whatever the crap it was called--about the eel in Italian Lit). Anyhoodle, the wild daikon that grows (yellow and pickled natrually) in my backyard yielded magnificent perfectly cut wedges (as if bought at a store and cut with a very sharp Wusthof knife!).
We had seaweed salad also but I don't think you'd really give a shizz about it. BUT we did have dessert: a green tea swiss roll. with red beans inside. mmmmMMmmMmMmm.
Ever since I was little I loved the swiss roll cakes--given the french influences growing up (briefly) in Viet Nam we had a lot of yule logs for "father Noel" and all that crap and wandered off to get a eucharist one xmas when I was 5 b/c I was curious as to what people were waiting in line for. I was promptly plucked out of the line when they noticed I had gone a bit..missing.

Mike & I had also picked up some "aloe soft drink" (non carbonated) from the JasMart and he had to be fancy and drink it in a wineglass whereas the uncouth beast that I am chugged it out of the bottle.Analysis:

1. Green tea swiss roll = moist, light, a little crumbly, but adequately intense in green-tea flavor, not so sugary, red beans add a nice flavor and texture. BUENO (this is from the-prepackaged refridgerator section of JasMart).

2. Frozen Unagi = meh! for 5 bucks it could serve 3-4 people. This I got at the Sunrise...mart...thing in Soho (broome & spring?--I'll activate links later). You could oven bake it, microwave, or boil in the bag. I'd say for 5 bucks it makes a good alternative to a $12-$18 rice bowl. I didn't make the egg thing but whatever that's easy to put in some other time. The texture was a little flakey but still very soft--at Tono Sushi or Tokyo Pop and a couple other places, the unagi is broiled lova-ly and it just...melts in yo mouf! There was frozen unagi that sold for $11 per filet as opposed to my $5--this might just make up for the difference in texture.

3. Aloe drink = ...? I'm just conflicted b/c the bodega under my apt sells the Korean aloe drink and it's a little sweeter but yummy too--a little cleaner/crisper in taste. The one I go at Jasmart u can taste the artificial sweetener tho it's lighter. BUT--the one at Jasmart sells for 2 bucks whereas the bodega sells it for FOH DOLLAH! >:( I'll buy both :)

Icebox Cake...

Icebox cake from Billy's Bakery--just some homemade whip cream, layers of chocolate wafery-ness.
YUM-O. just kidding. i don't like rachael ray. Yes I lower-cased her name on purpose.
Le sigh. such a pretty little cake. As always, Billy's frostings/creams are on point.
i lobe u. (more for aesthetics than taste but whatebbs...)
Me & J spent a whole day eating super rich foods. This was 2nd to last :)
We went to Elmo's for dinner on 20th & 7th ave--that my friend, was quite delish. will save for another post. Had the Harvest Salad, Chatham Cod (perfectly cooked, with sweet potatoes and scallions), and a chocolate creme brulee to end. Lounge downstairs, will have to consider for Birthday. Very nice space, very modern, loungey--edgy and whatnot for 7th ave in Chelsea. Good date spot, nice electronica-y/downtempo music. Better than Kion in terms of ambience in spread.

Magnolia's Bakery (...the Cupcake Showdown preview...)...

...I don't like Magnolia's Bakery.

YEAH THAT'S RIGHT. I DON'T LIKE MAGNOLiA's BAKERY. me no likey--magnolia not numbah 1, magnolia numbah 10! magnolia not a-okay! (shout out to Operation: Dumbo Drop which when I was younger, was very excited about it being filmed in the motherland--not so sure how I feel about it now. will have to inspect).

Let's go over ze Magnolia cupcake's finer points.

Ze cupcakes are moist, perfectly moist, light, not that sweet (on the fence about the flavor of the cake itself). mmm....nummy nummy nummy nummy. We got some red velvet cake. The frosting was bland and lackluster, but the cake was incredibly moist and light as previously mentioned. Please see exhibit 1.

And...zey are also pretty.
Now, what you can't tell, is the consistency in the frosting which is a HUGE factor for me. Billy's uses buttercream, I assume Magnolia does too but more sugary-ness. Magnolia's frosting is *much*MUCH* sweeter, to the point of overbearing/overwhelming/overpowering, all sorts of "over"-ness as in "over it"--points off. Magnolia's frosting is sloppy, and runny.

Okay, so they pretty much look like Billy's Bakery cupcakes (and u can see below that i smudged a finger on that cupcake there, but BACK TO THE POINT).

Mike & I weighed the fact that we got ours freshly swathed right in our faces, but it DID have time to really settle on the train ride back. (Btw, we went to the new opening of the Magnolia's on the UWS on 69th & Columbus where the Penang used to be--oh Penang how i heart you since beantown w/ ur asparagus chicken and mango shrimp. but tha'ts another story...)
CONCLUSION: I don't *hate* Magnolia's, I just wouldn't go there if I had the chance and I definitely would NOT wait in line OR make it a point to take any friends, who are visiting, to go there. It's really the too sweet frosting that kills it. I don't care about how runny the frosting is, it's just I choke on every bite b/c the sugar just hits the back of ur throat like your tonsils got dropkicked with sunshine and carebears (if u like that sort of thing).

So I've had Crumb's, Buttercup, Billy's (^_^), Magnolia's(with an appalling website)--what's left is Sugar Sweet Sunshine in the LES. Will report back with a cumulative assessment. I had a pistachio cake version of the cupcake from SSS at Karen's bday party--I'm excited to finish out the tasting. Here's a fun little story in NYMAG about the whole cupcake lineage in the city.

Billy's might be a little dry but MY GOD the frosting (even the German Chocolate Cake) is SPOT ON.

(...and thus, u can see the diff b/w setting up the shots w/ no flash vs flash and the world of diff it makes. now that i've got my SB800 w/ diffuser, we'll see how that carries, and how the gold bounce might work out too.)

Ohhh the Cakes u/i Make!...

I like to make zees cake. Zees one is very very rich, not too sweet, very moist, and lotsa chocolate. Eet ees ze triple chocolate cake--zees one had Chocolate & Peanut Butter chips...
You know ze recipe ees good when it starts with a stick of butter. or in this case....TWO. and a cup of sour cream, chocolate pudding mix, devil's food cake mix, 5 eggs, a teaspoon of Vanilla extract (but I prefer almond extract)...and to mix it up diff types of chocolate morsels. Bake for 50-55 min @ 375, let sit for 10 min in pan, cool for 15 min or so on rack.

I make eet for ze roomie passing the NY/NJ Bar Exam (that's law, not liquor!!). Zees cake has Butterscotch & White Chocolate chips...
I make eet for birfdays...(but not for mine this year b/c I had Billy's BAAAKERY!!)...
I make eet a lot. I bake eet for Thanksgiving this year. Zees cake has chopped up Andes Mints (b/c I couldn't find the Mint Swirled Chocolate chips)...
I bake eet for my first Xmas dinnah away from home...(star shape! extra festive with Raspberry & Chocolate chips :))...
I also made pan-roasted Chilean Sea Bass with soba noodles, cream of wild mushroom (cremini, portabello, woodsear? i can't remember), and oven baked asparagus wrapped with manchego and prosciutto with a little lemon-butter sauce. And apparently we also drink Riesling in the free Pom glasses :P
I bake tres cakes for ze baby showah complete veeth requisite sprinkles and cream cheese and or lemon frosting, but alas I do not have zee peektures.
I bake eet yust because...and so I stab eet too. Zees one has Caramel and Milk Chocolate chips...
Oh...and WHERE might you find these diff types of chocolate chips? ODDLY ENOUGH...Gristedes. but the one on the UWS had much more selection than anywhere else oddly enough. *shrug*. Happy Baking...

Super-(righteous)-Mac & cheese...

I have a ton of backlog posts but for now, u shall get "SUPERMAC!" on 29th & 7th ave. (Stay tuned to same bat-channel for a Billy's Bakery vs. Magnolia's showdown w/ cupcakes and red velvet cake)...
I'm not too keen on mac & cheese (meh!) but I did like it at Cafeteria (17th & 7th)--which apparently is open 24 hrs a day (and downstairs bar) which I must utiliiiiize (24/7-ness, not bar-ness). Last time I had poached egg and vegetable stack w/ grilled portabello, tomato, avocado, caramelized asparagus brown butter. super crowded for brunch but meh!

Used my gorillapod (tripod) today to maneuver the photos sans flash :P might i say--gorillapod ROCKS!!! sooo much better. I always thought flash makes everything so...succinct so cold/frigid looking (sometimes) but anyway, yay!
Back to SuperMac--which isn't S'Mac but same concept. I had the Wild Mushroom mini-mac with bread crumbs, truffle oil, cremini mushroom, portabello and something. Julia had traditional mac (whatebbs!!) :) Comes in mini-mac or super-mac which MY GOD is a glorious white ceramic little pot. Tasty tasty--next time to try: buffalo shrimp/chicken mac, LOBSTER THERMIDOR mac >.<, and some other ishes. Mini-macs range from $6.50 - $8.75 and Supermac ranges from $8-$12 bucks.

Here's another shot:

*BONUS!* They serve Rice to Riches pudding AND cupcakes from Crumbs. Saves me the trip downtown, and uptown, respectively. huzzaaaah. That and there are some interesting appetizers like crispy linguini and Mac & cheese nuggets! (??)

butter (not "the stick of")...

restaurant week.
alas, slipped most of my mind despite the numerous reminders/solicitations. anyhoodle, made it out to Butter on Lafayette b/w Astor Place & W. 4th. Really wanted to try out Anthos and Fig & Oil this wk but I dunno...the hotel rooms of my mind are totally vacant. As u can see I've got a fevah for Greek food lately--minus Butter but i mean COME ON like Paula Deen says: you know it's gotta be good if you start the recipe with a stick of buttaaaaaah. oy.
I was feeling a little self conscious lugging around my new nikon to the restaurant and with the crazy flash that comes standard, so I tried to eke in shots quickly so I only got a couple good shots in, that and I was hesitant to bust that ish out after every course :P Moi? Self conscious?? mais oui. On the rare occasion.

Appetizers: I had the Sauteed Shrimp and Salted Crispy Cod on a bed of arugula with a Mandarin orange dressing. Lots of people had the Cavatappi pasta with Lamb sausages and yellow tomato sauce which apparently was good enough to be an entree! Check the menu for more options b/c I'm too lazy to write about them.
Entree:Pork, Fish, Duck. and some vegetarian choice. I was torn b/w the braised Pork Osso Bucco with adzuki beans, charred onions and mustard and the Blackened Florida grouper with crushed Yukon potatoes, capers, and parsley. Needless to say, the capers won out (esp the bigger ones--caper berries--are awesomeness profound. not really. just wanted to be a little nonsensical. and tangential. yoinks!)

Dessert: Had the Blood Orange upside down cake--nothing else sounded too tempting (mango sorbet blahblahblah chocolate tart blahblahblah). Did not enjoy it--but the sauce was a sharp contrast cake. that, melikes. here's a blurry shot b/c I like to not keep still. and sans flash. (still trying to figure out the buttons--such a switch from the manual SLR's =/ i knew the functions intutively w/ my hands...le sigh* but yay for new camera! ^_^)
I liked Butter. I didn't love it. Just like FR.OG (France Origine) in SoHo. The subpar dessert @ butter really killed it for me. I dunno--everything up until then had been good, pleasing, not extroardinary, but that dessert just really pooped one out. Perhaps a post on FR.OG later when I feel like talking about quartered figs and a crazy soup pouring/show. :)

NYC macaroons @ Madeleine's...

Madeleine Patisserie (no website yet) on W. 23rd st b/w 7th & 6th ave has a pretty badass selection of macaroon flavors (Margarita anyone? White Russian?...lots of other ish i don't remember =/. I did eat the ones mentioned by name in this entry, but in the summer Michael also got some Blueberry, Lemon, and Coffee which is just meh!)
My faves so far are the Rose, Coconut Cassis, Porto White Chocolate, and Blood Orange (so clean & not to mention i LOVE blood orange--apparently the ones imported are more bitter than the ones they use in Europe. When I was in Florence they always garnished my mixed drinksies with a blood orange slice instead of our usual bland orange crap!).
Service is a little um...interesting, but I suppose depends on who's there. My roommate got coffee there--it's a cute litle place on garden level so adds a little more to it. Cute, doesn't try to do too much...it knows it's not in Paris so why bother mimicking :) ^_^ Will be back again to post more. Here's Julia holding up her half eaten ishes!
Don't they just look so delicate and moist?! ^_^ Ahhh le sigh. (see post below for more macaroon love)

Sadaharu Aoki Macarons!!!...<3<3<3...

...the time has come...for my SADAHARU AOKI/macarons post!!! Now, according to my notes these are the flavors: pistacchio, caramel salé, violette, chocolat, fraise, framboise, pêche canalle (beats me but sounds like fish!), sesame noir, chocolat umé (prune salée), macha...there were tons, bite me if i didn't get it all!!

*golf clap*, *scattered golf clap*, *bowing and waving of the hand feverishly*. *ahem*.
So somebody on Flickr has pretty badass pics of the macarons big & small, with fresh fruis and alll!! ^_^ I nicked these next two off of Canon S3 IS in France's flickr b/c the shots were taken in the Jardin du Luxembourg (about a 3-5 min walk from Rue de Vaugirard where the St-Germain-des-Prés outpost for Sadaharu Aoki is...)

Anyhoodlekins, one notable thing is how DELICATE the shells were...AND SMOOTH! ^_^, and it was sweet and punchy but not saccharine and underwhelming as much as the rest of Paris and London was. :P

AND THEN THERE WERE GIANT MACARONS!! ^_^ my GOD it was glorious...I didn't eat it. I actually had another pastry upon recommendation, complete with a little Macha Green Tea macaron clinging on to the ample, singular, bosom of the lovely Macha Duomo via swirl of red bean paste. Dramatic? Yes. Glorious? YES. MY GOD..........yes.
(*whispers*: i love you. sweet, sweet dome and cancer looking/budding protrusion ^_^) I also had the house tea (aweeesoem). Here are pics of other ish I got--financiers (cakey things). What I didn't get were my own pics of the macarons (melted upon flight back to Oxford) AND the 2 citron tea cake, and earl gray cake :( I *had* to eat it b/c I had a week and a half of work @ Oxford before flying back to ny OH the BURDEN of eating it all so it wouldn't perish ^_^
I don't particularly care to post any other pictures of Sadaharu Aoki. just go to the site. oh the PICTURES. okay maybe one (or two) more... citrus/macadamia duomo and some bon bons! ^_^
Oh who am i kidding--here's some more! little sampler plates :P (last 4 pics courtesy of the sadaharuaoki site)

brunchy-brunch-brunch @ theViceroy...

People brunch here in Chelsea like it's serious business--and I've seen menus that offer brunch til 5. I'm okay with that. Sometimes I don't wake til 3 anyway. Or rather, I wish I had that luxury to rouse from slumber at such a gloriously ungodly hour since I work wkds so much.

Anyhoodle, my fave place so far in my hood is the Viceroy (depending who you talk to, pronouced vice-roy or veEs-roy :P) on 8th ave and w. 18th st. I had the poached eggs in tomato casserole & herbs and...comes with toast.

For the brunch prix fixe ($15.00), it comes with coffee. Or a mimosa. Or bloody mary. (or orange juice, but whatever, it's booze in the morning/early afternoon if you're gonna do up brunch right :)) Anyway, no pics of my acquaintance's omellette b/c it was egg whites with asparagus, feta and somethign else but the eggs sans yolk just wasn't as pretty :(it also comes with a breadbasket of corn-cheddar muffin, some other stuff that's really good, and a loose, liquidy preserve dip with citrus zest and what have you...(my memory is FANTASTIC these days if you dont' rememeber my freakish cognitive abilities :( *le sigh*)

I haven't gone back yet for dinner but Albee & I did come for a late lunch--he got a turkey burger I think? (the sirloin supposedly is the shizzzzz) and I had the honey roasted ham sammich with melted brie, arugula & honey dijon on a baguette. YES. ham sammich done in the utmost, exquisite way ^_^ Came with seasoned fries natch pomme frittes. Needless to say, I took quite a long lunch that day.

I play with my food b/c I didn't when I was younger. Not b/c I wasn't allowed to--just b/c i was THAT DULL. I sure made up for it now didn't I?

I've come to realize I have a very quiet, loving, codependency on tomatoes. My mom makes a great shrimp in casserole sauce. I actually had to look up this concept of casserole (which apparently has 4 diff classifications: ragout, carbonnade, hotpot, cassoulet). Mostly just pares down to stewing/braising stuffs in liquids whether provided by wine (e.g., coq au vin) or tomatoes in this case. MEH!! here's a shot of Viceroy (courtesy of Citysearch).

I don't think it's a Hemingway-esque kind of place. Possibly Simone de Bouvier kind of place. I'm totally making ish up but you get the vibe :) Retro, art deco, much bigger in person, stark contrast in steel accents, bright floor, dark aged oakiness evoking a sense of brandy and smoke stained kinda joint w/o the pseudo-intellectualism and pretension :). Nevertheless, hand me a snifter and a smoking jacket--pronto!

Kión ceviche + tapas...

Kim visited, and dragged James out too with us for a lovely little meal @ Kión on E. 6th st and Ave A: Japanese peruvian food...the pictures speak for themselves....:) Had sushi too last time but that was "meh" in comparison to everything else...^_^

Sweet plaintains on the side (w/ what I think was condensed milk drippings!)

Spicy mussels (wok roasted mussels with rocoto peppers, ginger, cilantro and miso broth)

Pulpito (Chilled baby octopus and sautéed octopus tentacles with panca miso garlic ginger sauce)

Toro con palta (tuna belly tartar with avocado mousse, capers and ceviche lime juice)

James got pan seared filet mignon with a fried quail egg topping and blue potato gnocchi side...

From ...food/ACTUALLY...

Lychee martini...

From ...food/ACTUALLY...

Ceviche mixto (shrimp, squid, snapper and fluke marinated in a spicy ceviche sauce)

From ...food/ACTUALLY...

Anticuchos and Papa a la Huancaina (grilled miso-panca marinated beef, shrimp and chicken skewers served with blue potatoes with feta cheese sauce and kalamata aioli)

From ...food/ACTUALLY...

Also had the Pepino Rollo (cucumber rolls stuffed with salmon, avocado and seared tuna in a sesame Yuzu sauce) but last time I had the Salmon Yuzu and that was much better--same concept ish with the cucumber hollowed and filled with salmon and yuzu sauce.

here's another shot of the lychee martini but just artsy fartsy sepia :)

From ...food/ACTUALLY...