Peter Luger's Steakhouse

I recently celebrated my birthday, and the thing I was looking forward to most about the big 2-5 was the dinner. Tom made reservations at Peter Luger's Steakhouse. The name was always tossed around, and raved about (including from my coworker who talked excitedly about everything from the service to the sides), but I had never actually researched its whereabouts. However, I did have their number stored on my cellphone for the past few years because I once got a call from them asking to confirm my reservation for 8. Wrong number. But I saved it for the off-chance that someday, someone might talk to me about making a reservation and I could impress them by saying "oh, let me make one right now, as Peter and I are like this" and I'd cross my fingers and people might think "Wow, she is so cool!". Of course, this has never happened, probably will never happen; Tom made the rez without me.

Because my birthday falls on St Patrick's Day, it is annoying to try to reserve any bar or restaurant. And according to one experiment in which someone tried to make a reservation for 2, 8pm, at some of Brooklyn's most sought-after restaurants, Peter Lugers was the only one that didn't have any available that night (which could be any night). But luckily, Tom had found one for 5:45 and another for 9:45. We opted for 5:45 so we'd still have the rest of the day to recuperate.

Sadly, we have been notorious for doing things last minute, and we rushed to Brooklyn from the UWS, and from his apt, rushed to the restaurant, thus making me forget to bring my purse and... my camera. I cannot show the size of the amazing porterhouse for 2, nor the creamed spinach, french fries, or more importantly the slice of bacon that could pass for a steak.

Instead, I will have to describe it: A basket of onion rolls and sea salt and fennel seed rolls were brought out with a gravy boat of Peter Luger's own steak sauce and 2 large pats of butter for each of us (yikes, how could they think we'd eat that much butter with our bread?). I ordered slice of bacon which I guess they consider an appetizer because it was brought out before the rest of the food. It was about the length of your average bacon slice, but it was cut thick (about a 1/2")and 3" wide and came in at $3. Totally worth it. The creamed spinach was actually too buttery for me and I had only a spoonful or two during dinner. The french fries were extra crispy and hot, but we could've easily ordered it for 1, instead of 2 as we barely made a dent in it. The Porterhouse for 2 is not a cheap eat ringing in at $85. Then again, it was the most tender, buttery, rare and largest steak I have ever had the pleasure of eating. Our waiter served it on a trivet so that the oil and presumably butter (which I'll just refer to as "sauce") made a little pool on one side of the place and using two big silver spoons, served each of us a huge slice of steak on our plates, drizzled a bit of the sauce on the meat and left. I grabbed my fork and knife.

The first bite was as if I were laying in a field of soft green grass on a 65°F Spring's day, with the sun warming me from above and butterflies dancing around my cheek, feeding me a steak while getting a massage from [insert someone very attractive]. As we made our way through the steak, I knew that I was getting full because I noticed I was chewing it more and more. The 20th bite was not as good as the first, but I could still appreciate it. Actually, I was amazed the waiter pointed out we had left a piece left; I thought it was part of the bone.

According to Tom (and the subsequent research I did), the steaks are dry-aged for over 21 days in their very own dry-aging boxes which means... it grows mold on them (which they cut off, of course). Ack. But hey, if it results in tender meat, then by all means, mold away. I love cheese which is moldy so what do I have to really complain about?

I felt like I had to be rolled out of there after we were done eating. The waiter put the bone into a doggie bag along with the french fries and spinach. Tom didn't let me gnaw on the bone when we got home. Alas, but all in all, a fantastic meal to a fantastic birthday.

Tom's Birthday Cake

After mulling it around in my head for at least 5 months now, the time had finally come to make the cake Tom, my boyfriend, had asked for- a dinosaur cake. I received a box of Wilton Fondant for Christmas, had designed the cake only to realize how hard it was to 1) work with fondant... more specifically, mold it into shapes and figures you so desire and 2) transporting a fondant cake and hiding it from the guest of honor for a day or two.

The layout was pretty much the same as I drew in my plans, but the coloring and the volcano and don't even get me started on the dinosaurs. They did not exactly come to fruition the way I wanted them to so I went to Party City and bought a bag of little plastic dinos for about 3 bucks.

I had originally wanted to bake him a homemade [not Pillsbury] Funfetti cake, but as luck would have it, the two grocery stores nearby did not have a large container of the long rainbow sprinkles. They didn't even have the boxed Pillsbury mix. However, at Westside Market, they had Duncan Hines "Confetti" cake mix. I bought two boxes since I figured there were going to be at least 20+ people.

NEVER BUY CAKE MIX IN A BOX!!

I knew going into it that I could come out with an artificial-tasting, preservative-filled cake, which is exactly what happened. I was so mad. 1 cake and 12 cupcakes (6 eggs!) gone to waste. I thought about serving it only because people might be drunk enough not to notice, but deep down, I'd know and I couldn't ruin my reputation as a budding baker. (I kept the cupcakes thinking they were still edible, but the fondant i had covered them with got too soft and came off because I stacked them on top of one another. Long story short- Tom's roommate Jason told me not to throw them out and ate them, so I guess it wasn't a total waste)

The next day, I found a basic white cake recipe:

* 1-1/2 cups white sugar
* 3/4 cup butter
* 3 eggs
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

I set aside 6 little bowls for a cup of batter each and dyed each one a different color: blue, green, red, yellow, orange, purple and I had a little white batter left over. I mixed well and layered each color over each other (I'd double the recipe to get more colored batter and bigger layers) in a 13" x 9" pan.

It looked like this. not the most appetizing but....



when baked, it looks like



When cut in half and layered with vanilla pudding then covered in fondant by yours truly?




It was pretty good if I do say so myself! It tastes just like a regular white cake. Moist, dense, not too sweet (I used less sugar in the recipe because I knew the fondant would be pretty sweet). People complimented me on it so I will definitely save this for a future occasion.

Things I've learned from this experience:
Fondant dries out if not kept wrapped up.
Fondant will stiffen when kept in your fridge, and will get super gooey when brought back to room temperature. Make sure it's not touching anything else if you want to keep your fondant smooth!!
Wear plastic gloves when dying Fondant. Your hands WILL turn whatever color you are using.

I am going to make another cake for his actual birthday on the 16th. Maybe.

Happy 25th Birthday, Tom!! <3

Birthday Dessert Surprises

I am SO spoiled
I was treated to various desserts upon turning 24 years old; the first from Saela on my actual birthday:
A month or two ago, we had discussed French Macarons (not to be confused with the chocolate covered coconut macaroon), debating where the best place to get them was. She surprised me with a box of six varied macarons (pistachio, caramel fudge, passion fruit, cassis coconut, strawberry and something else i can't remember) from Madeleine's on my birthday and I relished in them with pure delight. They are light, but chewy and just one of the most perfect little desserts on Earth. Plus they package their pastries in a really cute box.

My second surprise came from Tom. He found a place called Financier and got me two different mini chocolate cakes; a chocolate caramel mousse and a chocolate fudge-like cake with hazelnut creme (?) in the center (pictured). The latter was so smooth. Unlike regular cake, I savored each bite making sure nothing was left on the fork. I wanted to save this to share, but it was impossible to not eat the entire dessert.

This gift was threefold... it was an apology for "forgetting" my birthday, but a birthday gift nonetheless, and it was also a nice pick-me-up at 1am... which is when I was stuck in the edit room working.

I love my friends.




I call the stack of macarons a "big mac"... har har