2 more from NYC.....

I realized that I forgot to write about two places we visited in NYC. The picture you see about is from the Streits Matza factory. It wasn't listed on the self-led walking tour of The Lower East Side, but we just happened across it. As a very proud Jewish girl, I love me some good matza. I even eat it when I don't have to, sometimes I just feel like having Matza Brei, even if it isn't Passover.

It was pretty cool to see the Matza falling off the conveyer belt, but I was a bit disappointed that I didnt get to see it actually being made. I did get a piece to sample and was surprised because I've never had hot matza before. I took a bite to be nice, but I was sooooooooo FULL.

I had a nice chat with the Russian Jewish lady who was the cashier while watching some orthodox Jewish women coming in to buy Matza ball mix(????). I was a bit dismayed about that since I never use a mix, preferring to use matza meal instead.




Another bakery we went to that wasn't on my tour of the UWS was Crumbs. I was standing on the corner, waiting for Robin who was in an antique shop when a woman approached me and asked me if I knew where Crumbs was. I said " No, I dont live here". I asked her to address, but then a delivery man overheard and pointed it out. Robin and I ended up walking by so we went in. The cupcakes looked better than Magnolia's, but I was put off by the 3.75 price tag for 1 cupcake. Robin however, spotted a Peanut Butter cupcake, and wanted that. She asked me if I wanted one and I said no( I was full again!!). She knows I love coconut so she got me one anyway. I brought it back to Ontario and it was still pretty moist the next day. Definitely better than Magnolia, but not worth the price.

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.

Yellow cupcakes( vegan) with choc.frosting( not vegan).....

By now you know I'm not a Vegan and I probably will never be one( I really love dairy too much). I probably could become a vegetarian though. I havent eaten red meat in over 20 years and lately the thought of chicken or pork gives me bad shivers. I honestly don't like cleaning or touching raw chicken!!

You're probably asking "then why did she buy a vegan cookbook?" I bought Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World last year sometime because I thought so many of the cupcakes I'd see on other foodbloggers sites looked really good. I also thought " I'd still like to bake if I don't have any dairy or eggs in the house". That should be reason enough right?

Anyway, as I prepared our non-vegan dinner last night of Turkey burgers and oven baked fries, I decided I'd like a little treat for dessert. Aside from those chocolate brownie muffins, I havent baked anything in about 2 weeks.

I whipped out the book and decided on this basic yellow cupcake. The recipe came together in about 5 minutes. You clabber some soymilk( I used vanilla) with of cider vinegar in order to mimic buttermilk. You add your sugar to that along with some flavoring and 1/3c of oil. I used Fiori Di Sicilia, a citrus floraly vanilla flavoring from KA flour. You add the wet ingredients to the dry( flour, cornstarch, soda and powder) and thats it. I didnt even pull out the mixer!!

They smelled heavenly while they were baking, but I was still a bit skeptical. Since it was freezing outside( 12f), I popped them on the deck to cool for about 5 minutes. I frosted them with some simple chocolate frosting( NOT VEGAN) that I had leftover from a party I catered. If I was a vegan, obviously I would have whipped up a vegan frosting using margarine, but I dont even have any margarine in my house!!

I gave Robin a cupcake while explaining to her that these are vegan. Like the muffins, she was a bit skeptical!! How can you make a cupcake with no eggs?

The verdict? We liked them. They were light and not too sweet with a nice flavor. Next time, I'll try the chocolate kind. After all, I still have almost a full container of soymilk to use up......

Weight Watcher brownie muffins......

I really debated about whether or not I should blog about these,because they're not gourmet or even blog worthy. I thought about it for a day and then said " why the heck not". I really wanted to blog about these, because I want this to come up on google if anyone is searching for a Weight Watcher Recipe for something sweet and simple.

As I mentioned last week, Robin and I started Weight Watchers( although I'm not being anal about every single point). I blogged last week over on Egullet with 2 other foodbloggers who were also watching their weight. One of them, has lost an impressive 200lbs already!! Anyway, I cooked a ton last week, along with packing Robin a snack container and lunch each day. All last week though, I craved something sweet with low points. I was browsing the cooking forum over on Garden Web and came across these. I think they're absolutely genius and I can't believe something can be so tasty with 2 ingredients and only 2 points( 3 if you use chocolate chips).

Now, don't hate on me because of the cake mix. I do have an organic mix in my pantry, but I was worried they wouldnt come out the same. One day I'll try them with that mix. For now, take my word that if you're dieting and in need of chocolate or your're a child, you'll probably love these. I think my neice Emily will love them and I've already instructed my sister to make them this weekend.

WW Brownie Muffins

1 box chocolate cake mix( can be devils food or dark chocolate)
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin( not pie filling).
6 ounces of choc. chips.

THATS IT!!!!!

No eggs, no oil, nothing else.

Mix the two really well( Mixture will be very thick) and scoop into sprayed muffin tins. Bake at 350 for around 13-15 min.

I topped mine with a few chips rather than adding them in.

I gave Robin one last night with about 3 tbls of organic vanilla ice cream and 1tbls of hot fudge( I made that!!) and she just about died. She couldnt believe they were 2 points each and only 2 ingredients. And no, you dont taste the pumpkin!!

White cupcakes with choc. ganache.....

I whipped these cupcakes up for a friends birthday dinner last week. I saw them on Jen's blog and knew right away I wanted to make them. I frosted them with some ganache that I made at the Zingerman's chocolate class I took 2 weeks ago. The ganache was thin( it was meant for a truffles), but still tasty. I really enjoyed the fluffy white cake. Robin thought the almond flavor was a tad too pronounced so next time I'll cut back a bit.

Cake:

3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Butter and flour the walls of two 9-inch round cake pans and then line each pan with a circle of parchment paper.

To make the cake, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together 3 times into a bowl or onto a piece of parchment and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until its light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and whip until it's blended. One at a time, add the eggs, mixing after each addition until well combined. Whip in the vanilla and almond extracts. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined after each addition.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake until the cakes are golden and firm to the touch, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans.

Source: Chocolate & Vanilla by Gale Gand, 2006

Choc. Cupcakes w/peanut butter frosting....( Ina Garten)

Yesterday, the weather was horrible. We had major snowsqualls and most of the roads were closed. My neighbor has a snow plow attatched to his truck and he always plows our driveway. I usually always give them some sort of baked goods in return. I have the new Ina Garten( barefoot contessa) cookbook out of the library and these cupcakes looked good. I cut the recipe in half and I still came out with 12 cupcakes.

My go to chocolate cake/cupcake recipe is Hershey's Black Magic, its supereasy to make, uses one bowl and oil instead of butter. Ina's recipe used butter with less sugar and more cocoa. Funny though, I didnt think the choc. flavor was that pronounced, but the crumb was very tender. The cake was the perfect foil for this lucious Peanut butter frosting( As I was making it, I remembered Paula's MIL's recipe), I'll have to make that next time. It's interesting to note though, that this PB frosting recipe isnt really Ina's( as most of the recipes in the book are credited to someone else).

I didnt measure the PB so I might have used less than I needed, but it still had a great PB flavor( I used Jiff, btw). Robin and I enjoyed one or two with a big glass of cold milk.

On Thursday, I cook for the Seniors again. Its going to be a labor intensive meal. Roast Chicken, mashed spuds, spinach salad with bacon, sauteed zucchini and bread pudding w/ vanilla sauce for dessert.

This weekend I plan on baking more challah and lots of hamantashen to take to Florida( we leave on Tuesday) with us. My grandpa loves cookies and since he isnt eating much these days, I figure I'd make him what he likes. This might be the last time I see him.

Cupcakes.....

Here is a picture of most of the cupcakes. The carrot cupcakes were in the fridge. I piped the icing on and it went a lot faster and looked a lot better.

Meyer Lemon Budino.....

I was so excited about finding those Meyer Lemons, that I immediately went in search of a recipe. I found this budino( Italian for pudding) on epicurious.com. It was fairly simple to make and I wanted to really love it, but I didn't. I expected a really strong lemon flavor, but what came across more prominently was a rather eggy taste. I suppose I should have made some lemon curd, but I'd just made some last week for those minature lemon tarts.

I'm busy today. I have 50 cupcakes to make for a job tomorrow. I'm making a carrot, black magic and white chocolate lemon.