New York City in Food( Day 3 and 4)...

Robin and I love to travel. Prior to going away, I do all the research on where to eat, what to see, what not to miss etc. I didn't think I had anything to learn, but I was wrong. Robin turned me on to Grey Line Tours. The second time Robin came to visit me in California, she brought her mom and aunt with her. They took a tour of LA and dragged me along for the ride. I can't say that I really enjoyed it all that much, because I fell asleep!! However, we've taken tours in San Francisco, Halifax and most recently NYC. The tour we took in NYC was a 2 day unlimited hop on/hop off tour. It worked out well because we never took a tax the entire time we were in the city. If we wanted to go somewhere, we figured out what part of the loop it was on and then just hopped off. The tour included uptown, downtown, Brooklyn, a night tour and a water cruise. We didn't have enough time to fit in everything so we missed the night tour and the water tour. On Wednesday, we hopped back on the downtown tour where we got out at the stop for the Brooklyn Tour. I was determined to eat pizza in Brooklyn. We enjoyed about 10 min of the Brooklyn tour until we got off at the stop for Grimaldi's( right under the Brooklyn bridge). The pizza was amazing..... and thankfully, we didn't have to wait for a table. The weather still wasn't fantastic, but it was better than Tuesday.

When I was growing up in S. Fl, my parents would bring in Pizza fairly frequently. We only ever got 1 topping on our pizza( Mushrooms). I still prefer my NY pizza with only mushrooms. Robin has come to see my way too. When we first started going to FL together, she wanted to load toppings on her slice, but she soon realized that in order to fold the slice in half, it can't be weighted down with toppings.

The seating in Grimaldi's is communal. The foursome next to us was from another country and they ordered their pizza with 5 toppings. It was so weighted down that I was sad for them. They could not enjoy the simplicity of the dough, sauce and cheese!! It was really hard for me to resist butting in, but I held my tongue and ate my heavenly slices. Ask me how much I want a brick oven in my backyard? The pizza only cooks for TWO minutes. Amazing.


After lunch, we went back to the bus stop to wait for the tour bus to get us. This time, we had a different tour guide than the one that dropped us off. This man brought the people off the bus to show them the bridge. As we were walking back to the bus, another tourist asked the guide where Grimaldi's was. He said( in a thick NY accent). That's garbage, I wouldn't feed it to my cat, total tourist trap. I kinda laughed and said " we just ate there and we loved it". He said " well, then you don't know good pizza". Hahahaha, I laughed at that.

I don't care what he said, it was great pizza and considering how expensive NYC is, a relatively cheap lunch at 22.00 a small pizza( 6 slices) with 1 topping and 2 diet cokes.

The driver took us to another bakery where I had the most amazing halavah ever. It was so fresh and tasty( another item Robin doesn't like).

Dinner was in Chinatown where we were accosted by little Chinese women whispering DVD, DVD, Prada, Gucci, Chanel in our ears as we walked by. We ate dinner at Joe's Shanghai( I forgot to take pics). We walked back to the World Trade Center Path station and took the train back to NJ.

On Thursday, we were left to our own devices for transportation. Robin quickly figured out the subway and we took it uptown to the Upper West Side for another self-led walking Foodie walking tour.




After checking out of the B and B, we took our luggage to Penn Station. If you have a ticket on Amtrak or the Long Island Railroad( to get to JFK) you can store your luggage for 4.50 a bag. This was a huge time saver as we originally thought we'd have to go back to the B & B to pick up our bags.

Our First stop was Jacques Torres. We shared a CCC. Honestly, I was expecting more. It was OK, but not worth the 2.50 price tag. Granted, I was still full from the amazing breakfast we had at Jersey City's Best Bed and Breakfast.



We had this amazing double choc. pb cookie at Levain. This was a great, very dense cookie. I could only eat 1 bite of my half( I brought it back to Canada and it was still good the next day).

We skipped Grandaisy bakery on 72nd and B'way because nothing there appealed to me. We also skipped Soutine Bakery on W 70th between Broadway and Columbus (closer to Columbus)and Silver Moon Bakery at Broadway and 105th. We went into those places, but I was so full that I couldn't not fathom getting anything.




We did hit Magnolia Bakery where I was sorely disappointed. I had the plain vanilla cupcake/w vanilla frosting( 2.50). It was sooo sweet and kinda dry. Call me a conceited, but I think I'm a much better baker than the majority of what I tasted.

We went to the much lauded H&H bagels where I was shocked at the 16.80 pricetag for a dozen bagels. I did buy 5 to bring home. We walked thru Fairway( amazing grocery store) and a few other shops.




Robin tried a Beard Papa. I'm not a big fan of Choux paste so I skipped that one. She enjoyed it.


I thoroughly enjoyed this gelato/sorbet I had at GROM. Omg, too die for. The lemon was so intense and the hazelnut gelato was amazing.

We had a late lunch at Viand. We both enjoy diners and this one did not dissapoint. Its hard to find good tuna salad in this area so I never order it when I eat out here. This tuna salad was good and a bargain at $6.25


Robin had a turkey burger that she enjoyed very much.

We headed over to Central Park to enjoy some much needed sun. Our last meal in NY was at JFK and it was so horrible, its not even worth mentioning.

Greek Salad Pizza.....

Yesterday we had a potluck to attend at Robin's work. Since Robin is the big boss lady, she always wants me to make something impressive. My idea of impressive might not be her employee's idea so I basically make what I want to make. I think this turned out tasty and impressive.

In preparation for our big remodel/addition, I was cleaning out a junk drawer in the kitchen and came across a pampered chef cookbook( more like a pamphlet). There was a recipe for a Mediterranean patio pizza. I loosely followed that recipe. Basically, its a Greek Salad on top of pizza dough. I bought a Pillsbury pizza crust and rolled it out in a rectangular shape. I covered that with EVOO, some oregano, an italian blend and some parmesean. The recipe also calls for fresh garlic and feta but I used some granulated( dried) garlic and left the Feta off. I didnt have enough for the crust and the topping. When its cooked and fully cooled, I cut it into strips and topped it with Greek Salad. I made a dressing with red wine vinegar and evoo, some agave nectar some herbs. I drizzled that on right before we ate it. It was a very, very popular dish. Summer produce is at its prime here in Ontario and I'm really getting sad that the Summer is almost over.

Luckily, we're going to San Francisco two weeks from tomorrow and we'll be able to enjoy California Produce ( and burritos, chinese food, italian food and sourdough bread) for a full week!!!

If you have any "must do" reccomendations for us while we're in SF, we'll gladly take them.

White spinach pizza.....

I really wanted to love this pizza. It has all the ingredients I love; spinach, mushrooms, and 4 different types of cheese. I ate so much red sauce in Florida, that the thought of a pizza using a white sauce really appealed to me. To top it off, I picked up a ball of 100% whole wheat pizza dough at Trader Joes on our way home. I was excited to use that. I tried to find a link to this recipe, but its not posted yet. This recipe comes from the Early Summer 2007 issue of Food and Drink. Food and Drink is the magazine of the LCBO( Liquor Control Board of Ontario). In Ontario( and all of Canada), you just can't go into a grocery store to buy booze. I know some US States are the same such as PA. Anyway, I digress.....

So, I made this white sauce with milk, flour, onions and roasted garlic. The recipe has you roast 2 cloves( not 2 heads) and then set it aside. I never saw what to do with the garlic as it was missing from the instructions, so I just added it to the sauce. You then saute some spinach and squeeze out the water. First, I found the sauce way too thick. The recipe calls for whole milk, but I used some fat free half and half I picked up at TJ's as well. I had to add some skim milk to thin it out. After the sauce and spinach goes on, you'll put on some parmesean( I used pecorino romano). Then 3 kinds of cubed cheese. The reason for using cubed cheese is so you get pockets of different cheese flavor. I used gouda, ementhaler and mozzarella( not cubed, it was shredded). You then layer on sliced cremini mushrooms and strips of red pepper. Robin and I both don't care for cooked red pepper so I left it off.

I popped it on my baking stone for 10 minutes( at 450f), the instructions say to lift a corner to check for browning. Well, it was very brown, but it was far from cooked. The dough was still kinda raw inside. I ate around the raw parts, but Robin wanted to cook her slice more. She wrapped it in foil and threw it back in the oven for 10 more mintues. By this point, I was disgusted with it so I took Harley for a walk. When I came back inside, Robin told me that the pizza never fulled cooked, even after 10 minutes in the oven. I really think its the whole wheat dough. I seem to recall having this problem before with this type of pizza dough. I guess its back to making my own pizza dough. Oh well, live and learn...........

We're back......

Rather than write a few posts with pictures, I'll just lump everything into this one post. First, I didnt take too many pics when we ate out. When we go to Florida, we tend to eat at reasonably priced restaurants. Our most expensive meal was just 60.00 bucks and I totally forgot to bring my camera. I'm just going to write about the most memorable meals.





I'd read about Anthony's Coal Fired pizza on Jeffeats.com. I was really looking forward to trying this place. The menu is really small, just ome page with no pastas on the menu. The two main things most ppl seemed to order were the coal fired wings and pizza. The wings are served with grilled onions and foccacia. I don't like wings so I never eat them, but Robin is a huge fan. Robin really liked them as she prefers her wings unbattered. We also got a mushroom/sausage pizza which I found good, but slightly greasy. I think the reason ppl who live in Ft. Lauderdale are such fans of this coal fired pizza is because most of the pizza places there are NY style. I've had brick oven pizza before many times and this is basically what Anthony's serves. It was good, but nothing spectacular. We also ordered a salad that was your basic romaine, onion, garbanzo bean salad with a red wine vinegar dressing.




On our second to last night there, we went to Jaxson's ice cream parlor in Dania. Jaxsons has been around for 50 years and is well known for its homeade ice cream, huge portions and long lines. Luckily we had no wait as we decided to go on a Monday night. Robin has been to Florida with me 4 other times and we never ate at Jaxson's. We shared a sundae called Half and Half. Two ice creams( we picked vanilla and peanut butter( of course), butterscotch fudge, hot fudge, whipped cream and cherries along with sidecars of sauce and pecans. They do charge a 1 dollar sharing charge but you get an extra topping for that price. We couldnt even finish the sundae, it was so big( and we had a light dinner too( totally unremarkable at Pollo Tropical). We'll definitely go back again on our next visit. I'd love to take my niece as she has a major sweet tooth as I found out on this trip.




Our last meal was lunch at Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger. I read about this place on Jason Perlow's blog. We went to say goodbye to my Grandparents and I was happy to see there was a location near their house. I only took a pic of the frings( rings and fries) because our chicken sandwiches were nothing spectacular. The onion rings were all globbed together so they didnt impress me. I also ordered a choc. banana malt and Robin had a peanut butter shake( natch). They use Edy's/Dryers ice cream plus different syrups and mix-ins. When I ordered the malt, the waitress asked me if I knew what a malt was and I said Yes( see archives, Jan 22, 06). Later, I asked her why she asked me if I knew what a malt was and she said " women your age often order malts and then send them back because they dont like the taste". I said " how old do you think I am" and she said "26". I'm not sure if she was hoping to get a good tip, but it sure made my day( I'm 40 btw). She also offered to order me a giant can of carnation malt powder. I thought that was sweet, so yes, she got a nice tip.



Last but not least, here is a picture of my sweet niece Emily. We went down for her 2nd birthday. She was invited to a bday party on Saturday at a kids gym type place and my sister and I took her. She certainly takes after her aunt because she loves her cake. She gets positively giddy when she knows she's going to get some. Anyway, I can actually say I'm very sick of eating out and I'm looking forward to doing some of my own cooking.

The Perfect Slice......

To me, NY style pizza is my ideal( I had this jumbo slice when I was in FL). I grew up in suburb of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The majority of residents at that time were transplanted NY'ers( like my parents). Consequently, I was exposed to NY style pizza, bagels and chinese food and to this day, that style of food is my personal preference. But as I found out shortly after moving here my ideal pizza, bagels and chinese food is non-existent. So, I schlep bagels back from Florida and I bring back NY style chinese food from Port Huron. On my last trip home, my mom had a coupon for a B1G1 Free Pizza. She urged me to bring the pizza back in my suitcase. I said thanks but no thanks because I didnt want to deal with it, but then as my sister was wrapping up the pizza for the freezer, I decided to take it. I'm so glad I did. I love pulling a slice out of the freezer, chucking it in the oven for 10 minutes and having a crizpy, chewey cheesy slice that transports me back to Florida. I'm down to one slice left. Thank gawd Robin and I are going back to Ft. Lauderdale for my 40th Bday( Dec 2nd). I'm taking a second suitcase( not really) for Bagels and pizza.