Flushing Field Trip!

Since David started working at Starbucks, days off together have become few and precious. Today was one of those glorious days, and after a good sleep-in we rallied ourselves and Brennan (our dear P-town friend) towards Flushing and food! Carrie, our super awesome new friend who a)sleeps in as late as we do and b) has a car, not only came along, but offered us a ride too, saving us a good 90 minute subway ride! Amazing!

After a rather lengthy ride, we found ourselves at last in the infamous Flushing! Oh my goodness, we may as well have been in Beijing! It was a total-immersion sort of experience. Every sign was in Chinese, red lanterns hung from anything you can hang something on, and we were the only caucasians in sight, all of which I found at once comforting and dislocating. Oh, and it gave me VERY good feelings about what we were about to eat....

Xi'an Famous Foods is pretty famous in the Yelp circles I move in-digitally speaking of course. Located in the uniquely-titled Golden Mall, Xi'an got its big break with Anthony Bourdain touted its virtues on No Reservations. The little stall had about 3 tables and teeny little stools, and the friendliest proprietor ever. We felt REALLY out of place, but he not only welcomed us, pointing to the picture of Anthony Bourdain shaking his hand, he also started telling us what to order right away; "D1, B2, D4. You like!" We stopped at three to save room for tastes from other stalls, but we could have gladly sat there eating all day long.

These hand pulled rice noodles were served cold and spicy with lots of crunchy bean sprouts and slivers of cucumbers. They were refreshing and hot hot hot! Yuuuum.



Next up, these equally sinus clearing lovelies are the same rice noodles served hot this time with cumin and lamb. Oooo yes.


This "lamb burger" was a must have according to my fellow yelpers. Tasty though it was, I think it's not a must. Very delicious though!

In the aftermath, I used the handy little spoons to slurp up that spicy stuff that was left. Mmm hmm!



Next up, fried pork dumplings, with plenty of chives. We meant to have just one order, but they didn't understand us AT ALL and vice versa so we ended up with two orders. At 12 for $3, it wasn't really a problem, except maybe for our waistlines...



Scallion pancakes. Fried Dough, can you ever go wrong!?!? If I lived closer to this neighborhood, these are the things that would do me in because I would get one every time I walked by. Carrie orders like a pro- 4 steamed buns for $1.25, yes! Fresh Scallion pancakes for $1 a piece? We'll take 4!



The pancakes were almost too hot to handle, but that didn't stop us! Steam billowed out as we ripped into them, and they were crispy on the outside, doughy, scallion heaven.



FULL FACE!



Happy People! Ready to head home...

Perks!

...of the very most delicious kind!

I had the divine pleasure of starting my day off today in Soho at the International Culinary Center (it's super cool and affiliated with the French Culinary Institute)! Thanks to my internship at Restaurant Business Magazine, I was able to go to the Celebration of Japanese Cuisines lecture series this weekend as am "associate editor" (check that out!). I could only make it to the chef demo this afternoon, but that was more than amazing! This is Josh DeChellis, executive chef of La Fonda Del Sol, which is a fancy Park Ave. restaurant;



He lead a lovely demo, featuring a few interesting Japanese ingredients, and he is not fancy pants at all. I learned a lot-- the way that the nagaimo cream-i-fied when microplaned totally blew my mind-- but the best part was of course tasting!

First, cold, silky somen noodles tossed with uni puree and topped with arare (puffed rice thingys) and a bit of nori (seaweed). It was refreshing and delicately of the ocean, like seafoam maybe- a kiss of the sea.



Secondly, a super complicated process for a beautifully clean finished product. Nagaimo pureed with lovely scallops from Hokkaido, then foamed with a whipped cream cannister. Then the foam is dolloped into simmering dashi to poach. Finally, the little foamy pillows are placed in a bit of Dargeeling-smoked unagi (eel) broth. Somehow, it was perfect. SuperUmami!



Chef DeChellis calls them "Clouds over Kyoto", which he was quick to admit is kind of hokey. Sometimes true sentiment is hokey and cheesy and there's just nothing to be done about it. They were cloud-like, ethereal and very beautiful so I think it's only right they should have a beautiful name.

Phew. All in a days work. Life is tough. Did I mention winter in New York is treating me quite well? Sun, sun, sun, all the time. As though the city weren't already spoiling me enough...

Swingline

Staples. Everyone should have them, they're super handy. I had none back in August, but slowly over the course of the semester, I seem to have acquired some! This is one of ours, I especially like to break it out when I feel the pinch of the so-called "student budget". I hate that thing.

But I love this thing, and you will too.



Ta da! It's ...

Super Tasty Tuna Pasta

1 big can of tuna
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 can black olives (or any olives you have around, these are kind of optional)
1 anchovy
2 tablespoons of olive oil
cayenne
adobo
parmesean
your favorite pasta

(optional additions; a droplet of truffle oil, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, various types of olives, hearts of palm, anything in your fridge that could be deemed even vaguely Mediterranean.)

Warm the olive oil in a pan. Add the onion and anchovy and let the onions sweat and the 'chovy melt. This is a good time to drop pasta in some boiling water.

Open the can,drain the water and sprinkle a good dose of adobo and a good (very good) dose of cayenne right into the can on top of the tuna. If you're adding the droplet of truffle oil, this is the time for it.

When the onions and anchovy are nice and melty, dump the tuna in and give it all a good mix. At this point, I usually add a bit more oil, but it can be your call.

When the sauce is warmed through,add the black olives, kind of breaking them in half as you go. Stir, and add more oil. (I was probably up to about a 1/4 a cup of oil by the time everything was said and done. Obviously if you used tuna packed in oil, use a little less.)

With tongs or something similar, move finished pasta from the boiling water to the sauce pan. Toss everything together and shave lots of parmesean into it. Serve in lovely generous portions and top with more cheese and, you guessed it, another drizzle of olive oil!

2010, off to a promising start!

A whole new decade! Wow. Pretty wild, huh? I spent the midnight moments at work, but as it happened there was no where else I would rather have been.

I arrived at 11am, ready for a loooong day, dressed in my NYC finest! Preparations for the evening began almost at once, balloons were everywhere!



Marcos, the fantabulous lunchtime Maitre d', was working lunch and also getting ready to be the musical entertainment for the night. He's kind of a powerhouse.



Raffaelle-- known as Raffa-- and Patrick busied themselves in the absence of ANY lunchtime customers, with tying the party balloons to Marcos belt loops without his knowledge. Thought I knew I should object, I have to say it was just a little bit funny to watch Marcos frantically setting up his equipment whilst dragging silver and gold balloons around. Nonetheless, I told Raffa he should probably sit in the corner for a bit and think about what he'd done. Being the only girl in a room full of boys gives you a surprising amount of clout. I try not to let it go to my head. Sort of.



Little by little things came together. Musicians arrived. Check out this guitar;



And the party was going at last!

Everyone was seated by 10:30, at which point the owner, Lumi and I began to toast the occasion, joining the waiters in a little (ok, a LOT) of Prosecco at midnight! Europeans really know how its done, I must say.

Even David joined the fun!



No place I'd rather have been. Throughout the evening, a feeling of complete happiness filled me up, as though I was with a family of sorts. A mis-matched, haphazard group of displaced people who have all come together in the same place at the same time, far from home, to celebrate together.

Some of us took the celebrations very seriously;


Some of us were a bit silly about it;




Some were just happy the dinner rush was over;


The strength and meaning of the connections that have been forged between me and these crazy Euro-goofballs over the past few months hit me like a ton of bricks. I love these people, and I feel so lucky to be a part of their world. This is a special time and I'm happy to be sharing it with them.



May 2010 bring you all the things you hope and more!

I cannot believe I am going home to Portland tomorrow. Exciting, but strange. In the three short months since I booked my ticket, my whole world has changed. When I booked it, I thought of my flight from New York to Portland as a flight home. Now, I wonder.

Brooklyn gave us a stunning send off this weekend, in case you didn't hear. Rumors of snow swirled around all last week, but the Portland Girl in me was very skeptical...

Of course, the very same Portland Girl also woke up early Saturday morning, the day the snow was supposed to come, and raced to the window to check for snow. Nothing yet, but I opened the blind and cuddled up in bed to watch and wait.

Back in Portland, this would be a failed effort, sure to curse any .002% chance of snow. However, here in the BK, my faith was rewarded by 1pm with flurry after glorious flurry of the most delicate powder I've ever seen.

Just so happens, we had a little Christmas Party planned for Saturday night, so needless to say my excitement turned to absolute unbridled joy. I popped some more of that crazy-tasty gingerbread dough into the fridge and we rushed out into the day. The dusting that greeted us was barely a taste of what was to come...

Christmas shopping anyone?? How about these fabulous 1950's mugs?

David is unconvinced.

Rest assured, presents were indeed purchased, but I must remain mum as to the details, for what should be obvious reasons. As we meandered our way home to get our little home bedecked and bedazzled for our guests, I met the second love of my life.

Gingerbread in the oven, cocktails mixed, my very own Ultimate Christmas List playing on the stereo (and Ultimate doesn't even BEGIN to describe its awesomeness) and White Christmas playing silently on the tv for visual we were beyond ready! Before we knew it, the greatest little Christmas party was underway! Cheers!

After a few hours of eggnog, we went out to check on the accumulation and generally spread cheer outside good old 575, and in doing so discovered a whole new use for oven mits! Oven mits; the new Glittens!

Token snow angel! First of many, as it happened.


After a brief warm up-respite in the apartment, we braved the block up to Prospect Park. With 12 inches on the ground, the six (five of us Portlanders) of us were already pretty blissed out. As we entered Prospect Park, bliss balloned into complete awe.

3am. We have the entire park to ourselves. Hill after rolling hill lay in front of us blanketed in the most pristine white powder. Peace and joy flood my body. I wander away from the others, humbled by the beauty of this world.

But then I missed everyone. And there they were!

Back home, we went our various ways and/or crashed at the apt to sleep that magically deep sleep of people who spent the day playing in the snow.
Fig. 1: Jay

The snow-covered city beckoned once again this morning, and we were off once again!

How do you resist that? Brief stop in DUMBO at David's (YAY!) place of employment for a little peppermint mocha perk-up! The view isn't bad either.

Off to the Christmas capitol of NYC!

Rockefeller was a madhouse, shockingly, so my attempts at cute couple-y pictures felt sort of futile. Next years' Christmas card? Hmmmmmmmmm...


Well, I am going to miss the city this Christmas, it has been very good to me this year. Goodbye New York! Have a Merry Christmas, you have made my season oh so bright.

Invasion of the Gingerbread Men!

Can you believe it is December 13th, and I haven't baked a single Christmas cookie yet? Well, I personally think that that is just silly. What with this work stuff, final paper writing (8 pages down, 10 or so to go!), and having a wee cold, I've fallen a bit behind on the most important thing-- spreading holiday cheer!!



Not to fear, these little fellows and their snowy friends perked me right up! The perfect way to pass a dreary Sunday night. As a small note, I'd say the perfect positioning of a dragee is an incredibly satisfying occupation. Can one get a job decorating Christmas cookies year round? Something to ponder....



They're here and they want you to eat them!



I love how as you go along, even though you cut them all from the same mold, each and every gingerbread man has a personality all his own. I call these two Fats and Gonzo, for reasons I think are quite apparent...




The one on the left here looks kind of tipsy to me, something about the smile. What about the guy on the right, he has a definite look about him, but I can't put my finger on it. Thoughts?



Oh, and these little beauties taste as good as they look. Here's the magic formula! They're pretty sticky, so make sure to be very free with the flour when you are rolling them out.

GINGERBREAD MEN

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp each of baking soda and baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add molasses and egg yolk. Mix well. Add all the dry ingredients, and mix just until it looks like ginger cookie dough. Chill at least 2 hours. Roll it out and cut out any shape that suits you! Bake at 350 for about 5-7 minutes. They bake up REALLY fast, keep your eyes on them. You want them to be nice and soft, right?

DECORATE!! Obsessively, in my case.



I used a simple powdered sugar/milk mixture for the icing and plenty of lovely silver and red dragees. Oh, and by the way, although there are many people who say you can eat them, there are just as many who say it's really not a good idea to do so. I'm in favor of playing it safe and not ingesting the little buggers, but it's your call. As always, this most important thing is to HAVE FUN and BE MERRY! They're Christmas cookies after all!

Liquid Christmas

This is one schmaltzy cocktail, just like Christmastime is one schmaltzy time of year and just like I can really be one schmaltzy lady....

Here's what you'll need;



And to answer your question, heck no, Swiss Miss isn't a good hot chocolate-- it's Swiss Miss. It is what it is. Just like this drink. The little darling really twinkles my lights, and it doesn't hurt that it takes about 30 seconds to make. In this ridiculously icy weather, there's no better way to warm up. Christmas in a Cup! And anyway, these guys don't judge, they're just happy you're happy! See;



Anyway, this drink should make you feel festive and cozy all at once, I enjoyed mine from the sofa, wrapped up in a blanket as I basked in the glow of my very own Christmas tree. I highly recommend the entire experience.



Happy Christmas everyone!

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Starbucks now. There's no denying it. Why you ask? Why, Miranda, would you, a Portlander, a Stumptown barista, a general snob about coffee suddenly love Starbucks????!!



BECAUSE THEY EMPLOY MY OTHER HALF NOW THAT'S WHY!!!

As my dear friend Jessica said upon hearing the glad tidings, WOOOOOOOT!

Best Christmas present ever. I drink your latte!