$1 Empanadas

Once or twice a week, on my way to the train station from work I pass by Havana Central where a table is set up outside selling empanadas for $1 each.

Empanadas are a stuffed bread or pastry; either with vegetables or meat. At Havana Central, they offer a variety of the little fried appetizer. I ordered a broccoli and cheese, a chicken, and a beef. I personally like the chicken the best, (next would the broccoli and cheese). I brought them home in a paper bag. It was hard not to gobble them up during my seemingly long 22-minute train ride home, but they were worth the wait. They were still warm and I inhaled them. While not the healthiest of choices, a $3 dinner ain't bad. It is also pretty filling.

Bisquick!

Ever since Sophomore year of college, I got into the habit of buying Arrowhead Mills Pancake Mix. You just needed to add milk and canola oil and voila, instant pancakes. But it got pricey with $4.50 a bag and it was only until this past April that I got into Bisquick (the Heart-Healthy kind). It is now a staple pantry item. As long as you have milk and eggs on hand (along with various other baking ingredients), you can make over 100 different things including pancakes, biscuits, scones, etc.

I've made pancakes and biscuits from the recipe on the box. I also tried to copy my friend Caleb's Cheddar biscuits he made in Martha's Vineyard, though it didn't come out as good as his. A few weeks ago I googled "Bisquick Recipes" and came across bisquickrecipes.blogspot.com/I decided to make a coffee cake and luckily I had all of the ingredients on hand. This was the recipe on the site:

***
Bisquick Coffee Cake, Betty Crocker
Heat oven to 375°F.

The Ingredients are,
Cinnamon Streusel
2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk or water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg

Heat oven to 375°F. Grease 9-inch round pan. Make Cinnamon Streusel; reserve. Stir remaining ingredients until blended. Mix in a 1/4 of the Streusel topping, spread in pan.Cover with Cinnamon Streusel. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown, testing with a toothpick.

Cinnamon Streusel Topping

2/3 cup Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter or margarine (firm)

Mix all ingredients in small bowl until crumbly.
Cutting them with a knife and fork helps seperate the butter.

Well, I hope you enjoy this classic Bisquick Coffee Cake recipe!!

***

It was super easy to make.
Voila:


I was pretty impressed with how reminiscent it was of Drake's Coffee Cakes that I used to down when I was younger. It is not as moist as the individually wrapped snack cakes, but it's nothing a glass of cold milk wouldn't cure.

Peru Pt I

They say Peru has some of the best food, not just in South America but in the world, so how is it that, to the best of my knowledge, I had never tried Peruvian food prior to visiting Peru? I didn't even know what Peruvian food was.
The morning after getting back from Martha's Vineyard, Tom and I took a 10-day vacation to visit Lima and Cusco, Peru. The highlight of the trip was supposed to be the 3-day hike and exploring Machu Picchu. While the hike was an experience I will never forget, the food was also a huge part our time spent there. Because the exchange rate was in our favor, we ate like a king and queen. Even though our apparel never reflected our "wealth", we visited the nicest restaurants we could find, .
Our first night in Lima, Tom wanted to go to Huaca Pucllana, a beautiful restaurant situated in Miraflores, adjacent to a Pre-Incan Archeological site (which was lit with tiny spotlights). Click on the restaurant's link to take a look.

We ordered Deep Fried Chicken, sautéed in a butter and Pisco Sauce for an appetizer that was absolutely to die for.


I ordered the Ceviche Pucllana: fish, shrimp, octopus and scallops marinated in lemon and yellow chili, served with yucca sticks.


Tom got another kind of ceviche. Each came with 3 different types of corn- corn we had never seen before. We learned that Peru is known for over a thousand varieties of potatoes and corn. Every type we tried was amazing... Who do I talk to about importing them??

Martha's Vineyard

I apologize for the lack of posts but just know I gained about 10 lbs of photos taken in the past month and a half (my eating habits have gotten out of control!). It all started on a Memorial Day Weekend trip to Martha's Vineyard. My friend, Philipp, invited several of our friends for a gastronomical tour at his house. Our grocery bill came out to around $650 for 4 days of [really good] eating. The thing about having foodies for friends is that everyone wants to be in the kitchen. Since it was not my kitchen, I had to learn how to share and cater to the way other people cook and prepare their meals. It was a learning experience and in the end, it's just eating nice meals with best friends, right? I am not going to post every single meal or snack (as there was breakfast/brunch/lunch/snack/dinner served every day) but here is an example of how amazing this weekend went.

On Saturday, we feasted on lobster... dipped in lots and lots of butter. Caleb also made amazing cheddar biscuits, Saela made a salad- for which I made a raspberry vinaigrette (which I find amusing since I never liked raspberry vinaigrette dressing), and a potato salad was somewhere in there too.




Another thing I learned... my friends are fancy. Our table settings looked like they came straight out of a Martha Stewart magazine. (I added the pinecones)

Phil pours Prosecco and Fuse juice

Now, when we went out to the grocery store, everyone had ideas on what to get for meals, but it was never just "pasta with some sauce"... it turned into "pasta, with sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, roasted garlic and asparagus". A "salad" meant "baby spinach, arugula, walnuts, feta, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and apple slices"... "corn on the cob" was "mexican corn... mayo, lime juice, parmesan cheese, chili powder, red pepper flakes and cumin" I am not complaining, but what a difference from this past weekend!
Tom and I went to Jason's beach house on LBI, we picked up a package of hot dogs/buns, corn on the cob, peppers, potatoes, a bag of cheetos and sour patch kids. Again, not complaining; we had a lovely barbeque.

French Toast

I bought a loaf of Fairway's Holly bread (but I think it's just Challah bread for the non-Jews) because I was craving inch-thick French toast and Wonder bread just wasn't going to cut it.











It reminded me of those special Saturday mornings when my sleepy-headed adolescent-self rolled out of bed to find my mom making french toast (I believe she used Wonder bread). As I reflect upon it, I now realize the most memorable moments with just my mom and myself were over breakfast. We were either walking down to Shalimar Diner to get our 2 eggs, corned beef hash & home fries special, or piling lox over our cream cheese-d bagels. While we haven't done those in years, I still find the times we get brunch very nice.

An Italian Amuse Bouche?

Oy, I missed blogging about all of the April feasts (Matzo Ball Soup, Easter dinner, etc), but will get to them next week. For tonight, I am posting a simple but delicious meal Tom made me the other night. He came over and we were trying to decide what to eat for dinner.

It was 6pm and we were starving, we decided not to make pasta fagoli (and please, pronounce it the correct way- Pasta Fah-SZOOL) since he figured it would take at least 2 hours to cook (even though I so desperately crave it. The last and I believe only time I had it was when Vini fed me a bowl 5 1/2 years ago. Go figure.)

Instead, we went to the Westide Market and Fairway to pick up basil, garlic, onions, red wine vinegar, parmesan and pecorino/romano cheese, and ridiculous expensive pine nuts (seriously, 16.99/lb?! absurd, even if it is organic.) I still need to ask him for the recipes.

Tom made his own pesto sauce for our Farfalle (bowties) and red wine vinegar glaze for the cipollini onions that he learned to make in his cooking class he took in Florence, Italy. (best boyfriend ever!) To be honest with you, I was a little hesitant when he said he was making onions as a side dish, with nothing else. As much as I like a good Allium cepa, without a burger, salad or stew to complement it, onions on their own don't really appeal to me. Well as it turned out it takes a while for the onion glaze to thicken, and we ended up eating at 8:30pm anyway. And let me tell you, those cipollinis were amazing! It probably helped that it was drenched in a syrupy mess, but seriously, I could've eaten a whole bowl of them. He said that if I was impressed by that, to just wait for the other dishes he'll cook up since he's got a whole recipe book with more impressive meals waiting to be made. I will hold him to that.

the perfect bite

As I was eating my Greek Salad today (chopped Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, olives, feta drizzled with Olive Oil, a dash of Vinegar, some Lemon Pepper and anchovies- which was a last minute decision/bad idea because now I feel sick), I noticed how i was piling on the ingredients onto my fork: two leaves of lettuce, a grape tomato, feta and a green or black olive which makes it "The Perfect Bite".

I first heard this term in The Mirror Has Two Faces when Barbara Streisand is explaining to Jeff Bridges how she makes the perfect bite. Something must be said for this scene to stick with me after 13 years, not even remembering what the movie was about. It has also stuck with my mom and to this day we joke about making "the perfect bite."
Lucky for us, we have Google and the ability to search and find quotes:

     Rose: You're not eating.
     Gregory: No, I'm watching your ritual. I just about got your sequence now.
     You start by rotating the plate counterclockwise ...
     ...cut on the diagonal ... remove unwanted elements ...
     And now comes my favourite part: The loading of the fork.
     It's fascinating, the percentages you use of different vegetables, -
     Rose: -to create that one harmoniously-balanced, perfect bite.

Apparently a lot of people do it, including my friend Jared- whom I got a late lunch with at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Thái So'n. I got my usual... Bun Cha Gio Thit Nuong (Spring Rolls & Grilled Pork W. Lettuce On Rice Vermicelli) which was delicious, but Jared got the dish I had thought about trying and chickened out. He ordered the Pho Xe Lua (Combination Extra Big Bowl. Rice Noodles Beef Soup Six Differences Brisket, Navel, Frank, Omosa Tendon & Eye of Round.)

I watched in awe as he tore mint into his bowl, ladled soup with his spoon, added some beef, noodles, and topped it off with some drops of Sriracha and Hoisin Sauce. He repeated this step making each one the Perfect Bite. We discussed it a little further; I agreed with him that any dish with more than 3 ingredients had to be eaten in that way for the full tasting experience.

Here, Jared uses a Big Spoon
I would also like to add how amazing/annoying the service was this time around. I've been going to Thái So'n since High School and introduced friends and family to this restaurant because the food is good, cheap and the service usually speedy/attentive. There used to be a waiter who had a crush on me, and whenever I dined there, he would stare at me and try to talk to me. (You may think I am really full of myself, but I have witnesses; the rest of the table noticed how blatant he was about it too.) Unfortunately he no longer works there, though I did get many 'hellos' as I was waiting for Jared outside. But I digress. Once he arrived, they seated us immediately, as it was only half-full at 3:45pm.

About 45 seconds passed and a man brought us over some tea and asked if we were ready to order. Jared asked for some water and I said we needed some more time as we had JUST sat down. I don't think our menus were even open at that point. I kid you not, in the following 2 minutes, two more waiters came up to us with a pad and pen asking if we knew what we wanted. It was kind of ridiculous; because like I mentioned, it's not like they had to rush us out of there to seat more people. Also, Jared's soup came out about 5 minutes after he ordered. Mine took a little longer but it was still impressive to say the least.

Big Daddy's Diner / City Crab & Seafood Company

The first time I heard about City Crab & Seafood Company was during my Sophomore year of college when a friend of mine was a hostess/waitress there. However, I always thought it was too 'upscale' for a poor college student like myself and never thought to dine there.
Flash forward a couple of years... I went to their neighbor's restaurant, Big Daddy's Diner (& incidentally another place my friend waitressed) with Stephen during Senior year and revisited a couple of times this past summer with my friend James. We signed up for their "Insiders Club" since they promise a free meal on your birthday. Because of this, we ended up on their mailing list. I took advantage of some of their deals, like when they had "Hot Dog Week" to celebrate the namesake's 124th birthday. James and I went there to claim the "Buy one, get one free" special. We both ordered "The Texas Tommy" which is a hot dog covered in melted cheddar cheese, bacon and spicy ketchup, with tater tots on the side.

It was a disaster. Don't get me wrong, the service was great, as was the first bite of the hot dog, but it all went downhill after the second and third. I get heartburn just recalling it. We didn't even finish our dinner but were so full after that meal; stumbling out of the restaurant, not knowing we'd still feel the effects a day or two after. Lesson learned... be wary of fancy souped-up hot dogs; stay classic and simple with Gray's Papaya or the backyard grill. But if you are going to load up, a la Los Angeles' "Pink's Hot Dogs", go easy on the toppings. (Just kidding. If you ever get to visit Pink's, I recommend the Martha Stewart: 10" Stretch Dog, relish, onions, bacon, chopped tomatoes, sauerkraut & sour cream... I'll spare you the photo)

Now, getting back on topic, I used to receive an email from Big Daddy's once a week or so, but I suppose things are getting a little rough financially because in the past two months they have been informing me of a promotion every few days. In addition to their specials, they have teamed up with City Crab who has also been sending me an emails. My mom and I decided to take them up on their Buy 1 Entree, Get 1 Free for a Weekend Brunch.

We went on a Saturday morning. City Crab has a very calming sophisticated atmosphere (unlike Big Daddy's which is bright, flashy, youthful and fun); a two-man jazz band played on the floor (see first photo) and we were seated upstairs even though it was basically empty downstairs. Nevertheless, we were happy. It was a beautiful day and who doesn't love Brunch? I decided on Eggs DelMarVa (Eggs Benedict but with crab cakes instead of Canadian bacon) and my mom got the Chef's Omelette (lobster, spinach and manchego cheese). Made very well; my eggs were poached perfectly, huge chunks of crab in every bite... but it was really fishy and I was hungover from the night before.
Another lesson learned: Never consume seafood to nurse a tequila and whiskey hangover.

All in all, a pleasant experience. If you live in Manhattan, please visit either or both of these establishments. They are vastly different in styles, ambiance and food but still quality service and eatin'. Plus, they are practically giving away food.