Cooking at Home

Well, we've officially been home from NYC for a month and a half. In the meantime, we went to Napa Valley, but I'll blog about that later. For now, I want to blog about the fabulous dinner we cooked at home tonight.

I'm starting to feel the slightest twinge of a sore throat/cough coming on, so I was craving some good ol comfort food for dinner tonight. I couldn't find a recipe of exactly what I wanted, so I just decided to make something up. I'll call this dish "Roasted turkey breast on fettuccine with a sage and parmasean cream sauce".

I decided it had been too long since I'd made homemade pasta, so I wanted to get out my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer with pasta attachments. I followed the recipe that came with the attachment for basic egg noodle pasta. After making the dough and letting it rest, I began the noodle making process.

First you stretch the dough slightly and then put it through the pasta sheet roller.

After the dough has ran through, then you fold it over and run it through again. You do this a few times until the dough is thin and long.

Then you change the attachment from pasta roller to pasta cutter. I used the fettuccine cutter as these are my favorite type of noodles.

Once the noodles are cut, I cut them in half as they are really long and difficult to work with. The dough was a little sticky in some batches, so I had to pull the cut noodles apart and drop them in boiling water one at a time:

After cooking for just 2 minutes, I took the noodles out and let them drain. Since the dough stretches so long, cutting and boiling the noodles takes several batches. After 6 batches of rolling, cutting, boiling, and draining the noodles, I was finally finished.

In between the pasta making/rolling/cutting, I also made a creamy white wine sauce to accompany the noodles. I used butter, garlic, white wine, and chicken broth to make the body of the sauce, and I thickened it with a roux (flour and butter). I added peas, fresh sage, paprika, parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste, and then let the sauce thicken while I tended to the noodles.

My sweet little helper Scott helped me with the turkey breast. The noodles and sauce were too much work to have time to get the turkey in the oven, so he helped make that. He coated the turkey breast with paprika, garlic powder, oregano, and poultry seasoning, and baked in a 400 degree oven for 50 minutes. It came out looking perfect!

When the turkey was finished, so were the noodles and sauce.

Here is the finished product:

The turkey turned out moist and delicious (mainly because Scott made it- I have a tendency for drying out poultry in the oven). The noodles were little piles of chewy heaven. Mmmm! So dang good. The sauce was light yet creamy.... Yum O! This was a fabulous way to spend a Friday night. The best part of all, my sweet little helper cleaned up all the dishes!

Good night!

Day #31- Friday

OUR VERY LAST DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Wah!

Packing sucks. I can't believe how much stuff we bought!

But, we did get some fabulous deals! So it was totally worth it! :-)

We have had a wonderful, once in a lifetime opportunity. We loved every minute of it, and are so blessed to have been able to experience something like this. We look forward to returning home to family and friends, but still have a heavy heart in leaving our "NYC Home". Even if it was "home" for just a short while.

Goodbye, 290 W. 12th St, apt 4E. We'll miss you!

Day # 30- Thursday

Our last full day in NYC.

Where does the time go? Since it was our last day, we decided to make it count. We went to lunch at this restaurant that I'd had my eye on since our first day there. It was called Risottoria. Yes, as in a Risotto restaurant! Along with noodles and tomatoes, my 3rd greatest food love is risotto. I love love love risotto, so OF COURSE we had to go here! The risotto list was huge, with tons of variations on different additions to risotto dishes. It took about 15 minutes to decide (no joke!), but I finally decided on risotto with shitake mushrooms, arugula, and gouda.

Look at that creamy, cheesy, mushroomy pile of deliciousness! Mmm!!!

Scott got the special of the day, which was risotto with chicken, zucchini, kalamata olives, and parmasean:

While this place was very good, I guess I had extremely high expectations due to my burning love for risotto. I'll have to say, I'd probably only give this place a 7/10. It was good, but I've definitely had better. My friend Brandy makes THE BEST RISOTTO EVER! I tell her this all the time, because it is absolutely true.

The Risotto Force is strong with her. She is the Risotto Master.

My risotto is pretty good as well (not Brandy good, but good still), and I think it's better than this place. But, I was glad that we went here, and I love the concept of a risotto restaurant. Maybe I can convince Brandy to open one of these! I'd be her #1 patron!

After our somewhat disappointing lunch, we decided to go to the MET. Yes, this makes our 3rd time! Scott had read about a rooftop exhibit called Big Bamboo that he wanted us to see. And since today it had finally quit raining, and the temperature was back in the low 80's, we wanted to check it out.

We took the subway to the Central Park, and walked through the park to the MET. This was a really neat exhibit. It's a work in progress, and has been all summer. There are a few "bamboo artists" (for lack of a better word) who are constantly adding new bamboo shoots to the structure:

You can see the person at the top working on the structure.

There is a stairway throughout the bamboo where people can take guided tours. They only allow so many per day, and we had missed the sign up so couldn't do it

See the staircase? Pretty cool!

Scott hanging out under the stairs

There was also an awesome view of the city from the MET rooftop as well:

We walked through the art gallery on the way out so Scott could get one last look at some favorite paintings:

This is one of his favorites. It's VanGough, Wheat field with Cypruses.

Whatever.

:-)

Later that night, we went to dinner at Bill's Burger Bar. We've already been here one other time this trip, but it is so dang good. So similar to Shake Shack, but without the long line.

Cooking is art to me. Look at how perfectly that burger was grilled, with just the right amount of pink peeking through. See how vibrant the color of the melted cheese, the rich red of the tomato, and the bright green hue of lettuce contrast against each other. Isn't this pretty? This is a work of art.

And even better, because this is art you can EAT! :-)

We had a great experience here, and even better, it only cost $34. Just as fabulous as some of the gourmet places, but at a fraction of the cost!

We had a wonderful last day in our favorite city.

Day #29- Wednesday

Wednesday Scott woke up and announced that we had to go get Ethiopian food for lunch. He had been saying since day 1 that he wanted to try Ethiopian food, and we were running out of time to try it! So after working for a little bit, we went to a place called Meskerem. Here is what we got:

We got a combo of vegetables, with lamb, peppers, and tomatoes in the center.

The way you eat Ethiopian food is with your hands- no utensils. You rip off a piece of spongy bread:

And you form a little pocket with it. Then you scoop up whatever you want, the veggies or the lamb (or both!) and pop it in your mouth:

This was so much fun! It looks kind of messy, but it really wasn't. It was a unique experience, and the food was flavorful and healthy. We thoroughly enjoyed this meal!

After our delicious lunch, we walked around the Village. In the rain, as usual. It was getting really old- it had been raining since Sunday!

Despite the crappy weather, we wandered around all day, just walking around and going here and there. That is our favorite thing to do here; just walk around aimlessly and soak in all the excitement and energy of the city :-)

Later that evening for dinner, we went to another Jean George restaurant, called The Spice Market. When Lindsay was here, she told us that she had been here before and that it was one of the best meals of her life. So obviously we HAD to go here! She was right- the food was fantastic! We split the spicy Thai fried chicken wings with mango and mint:

These were totally fabulous! Very saucy, and the breading was oatmeal, I think! It was delish.

We also split a spiced chicken samosa (which is like an empanada) with a cilantro yogurt dipping sauce:

This was also pure bliss!

I had the grilled strip steak with garlic, corriander, and cumin:

This was moist, juicy, and perfectly cooked. Very good decision on my part :-)

Scott got the Vietnamese chicken curry:

As Rachael Ray would say, "Yum-O!"

Thanks Lindsay, for telling us how much you loved it here! We are with ya- this place was wonderful!

We had a fabulous 2nd to last day in NYC!

Day #28- Tuesday

Here we are, the last Tuesday of the trip. Only 3 more full days of NYC left! Wah!!!

That Collodial Silver worked, because Tuesday morning I woke up feeing much better. Still not 100%, but a definite noticeable difference. Thanks, Mom, for reminding me to get this!

Scott and I went to a late lunch at 3:00. We went to this noodle bar, called Momufuku. As I have a deep burning love for noodles, this was right up my alley. Scott and I split the prefix lunch menu, which consisted of a beef brisket bun, a bowl of duck ramen noodles with red miso broth, and chocolate truffle balls for dessert. We also ordered a side of shitake buns, and a bowl of heirloom tomatoes, because I also have a deep burning love for tomatoes.

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

This lunch was one of the best meals we'd eaten in the whole trip! Check it out:

These tomatoes were peeled, and accompanied with thin carpaccio beef slices, melon balls, and a savory chili vinaigrette. This is possibly the best tomato dish I have ever eaten. Complete deliciousness!

This is the beef brisket bun. The "bun" was actually a soft, chewy, wrap; it had the texture and thickness of a pancake. It was a delicious little chewy pillow, stuffed with fall apart tender brisket, bibb lettuce, and a tangy barbecue-like sauce. So delicate yet so much flavor!

Somehow, these shitake buns were even better than the brisket. Look at how fluffy those buns are!The shitakes were sautéed until crispy, which gave them a perfect chewy (but not rubbery, like mushrooms can sometimes be) texture. This was to die for!!!! Well, not literally, but they were little buns of heaven!

This is a duck egg, on top of a bowl of chewy, perfect ramen noodles, swimming in a salty red miso broth, and a few pieces of seared duck on top. I think that description alone should be enough to describe how incredible this dish was. Absolutely scrumptious! I could eat this every day and be happy :-)

Dessert was chocolate chip truffle balls.

This tasted like a ball of cookie dough. Which is good, because I love cookie dough! I can eat it by the spoonfuls out of the mixing bowl before I even get them into little balls and into the oven.

This lunch was absolute heaven. We'd both give it a 10/10. I would eat here again and again!

After this feast, we went back to the apartment to wrap up a few things at work. As it was raining again, and just a cold, yucky day in general, we stayed in until about 7:30. We then went to a little wine bar in the East Village that sold half price bottles of wine all night! It was called the Bourgeois Pig. We split a bottle of white wine, and it only cost $20! That is a steal in this city. The night before when we went to PDT, we each had one drink, and they cost $14 each. We spent more on 2 drinks at PDT than we did on a whole bottle of wine at the Pig.

After the wine, it was around 10:00 so we decided we should grab something for dinner. We had considered eating at the Pig... they had some awesome looking fondue trays. But after the bottle of wine, we decided we wanted something a little more substantial than a bowl of melted cheese. We went to Butter, which I had been wanting to go to since I always see the chef, Alexandra Guarnashcchelli on cooking shows on Food Network. She is one of the usual judges on Chopped, and has been on Iron Chef quite a number of times as well. Plus, the restaurant's name is Butter, so come on, we had to go here!

Well, the name of the restaurant turned out to be the best part about eating here. The food was average. I didn't even take pictures of it, so that should say something about it right there. I honestly can't even remember what we got- I guess the main point is that it wasn't memorable.

However, since we'd had such a fabulous lunch at Momofuku, and a nice bottle of wine for $20 at the Bourgeois Pig, we'd had a great day overall.

Day #27- Monday

Monday. It's official... our last week is here. I can't believe how quickly it has flown by! Of course with it being Monday, and with me being sick, and with it raining all day, we stayed in the apartment until 5:00. Well, I stayed in. Scott got restless around 3 and went to Bill's Burgers for lunch, and then went and got a haircut. I stayed home and worked, drank hot tea, and some of the vitamin C Emergency packs Scott had bought me at Whole Foods. I was intent on not wasting any more of the day, so I forced myself to get showered and ready for the night.

Scott had read about this place called PDT, which stands for Please Don't Tell. It is a "secret" speakeasy (bar) that you can only get by going through a front restaurant called Crif Dogs.

You walk into Crif Dogs, and on the left hand side of the restaurant is a "phone booth". You walk into the phone booth, shut the door, and press a button, which rings a bell inside of PDT.

A voice then projects into the phone booth, and asks "how many?" Scott said "two", and then a few seconds later the back door of the phone booth opened up to reveal a doorway into the speakeasy.

Seriously, how cool is this?!?!

I felt like I was Harry Potter, going into the Ministry of Magic via the street entrance. (Sorry, only you HP fans can relate to this!)

Once inside, the bar was very dimly lit. The bartenders were all dressed in period clothing, so they had circa 1920's outfits on... very cool! Also, I should specify, these aren't just bartenders, they are mixologists, and specialize in complicated, fabulous cocktails. All the drinks there are made the old fashioned way, with freshly muddled fruit, fresh herbs, and hand chipped ice cubes. Yes, I said hand chipped! How awesome is that? I got a Madame Bouregaurde, which was supposed to represent Violet Bouregaurde from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the girl that turned into a giant blueberry). This drink was made with a half cup fresh blueberries, muddled (which basically means smashed) with vodka, club soda, egg whites, and topped with fresh mint. OMG- this was absolutely delicious, and beautiful! (On the right)

Scott got the Mezcal Mule, which was Mezcal, Ginger beer, hot peppers, and fresh squeezed fruit juice (either orange or pineapple, I think....). It was equally fancy and delicious!

This was mainly a bar, but if you wanted food, you could order from the Crif Dogs menu (which was gourmet hot dogs) and they would pass it through a tiny little window through the PDT bar. So sneaky!

This place was so neat- it was like something from an old gangster movie! I am so glad that we got to experience something so unique like this!

Afterwards, we took a cab to Union Square to go back to Whole Foods. I had talked to mom earlier, and she suggested that I get some Collodial Silver, which is a natural remedy for sore throats/colds/infections. She said that every time she goes somewhere where it's really polluted, she gets the same thing I had (sore throat, slight cough, loss of voice) and that the Collodial Silver knocks it right out. I have taken this in the past and know it works, I had just forgotten about it. So we went to Whole Foods to get some.

Next, we walked a couple blocks (it had quit raining, but was now 65 degrees- cold and windy!) to our dinner destination. We went to a Jean George restaurant called ABC Kitchen. The restaurant was really beautiful:

We started off with appetizers. I got the heirloom tomato dish, which was tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, jalapeños, basil, and a delicious, savory vinegrette:

Scott got the chicken liver pate on toast:

For dinner, Scott got the morel mushroom pizza with truffle oil, Parmesan, oregano and farm egg:

I had the kasha and bowtie pasta with lamb meatballs:

As expected, our meal was incredible, and we loved every bite!