When I heard that these two born and bred NY institutions were going to team up for a coffee bar in Kiehls flagship store, I got seriously excited. Only Kiehls would give me the opportunity to indulge in warm chocolately goodness while perusing for a new eye cream. Think about this concept for a second, have you ever been shopping and after a prolonged period in time felt that hungry rumble in your stomach start to gurgle? You want to continue to sample and shop but you’ve stopped paying attention to anything at this point. Your stomach has taken over and the rumbles will not end until it’s satisfied. No need to bolt out to grab a cuppa joe and a sweet loaf of something-or-other from the generic Starbucks down the block, now you’ve got fresh java and baked goods at your finger tips! It’s brilliant!

Kiehls, you’ve just given me one more reason to love you.

Visit Kiehls NY Flagship at:
109 Third Avenue
Between 13th & 14th Streets
New York, NY 10003

See, whiskey shots are fine and dandy, and usually the shot of choice in most crowds (unless you’re down on the Jersey Shore, then it’s the Jäger-bomb), but what isn’t find and dandy is the lingering whiskey burn in the back of your throat. Bleh. Hence, the pickle juice chaser. It washes down any remnants of Jameson in pickley goodness. Plus, I used to drink it out of the bottle as a kid anyways, so this duo shot really brings it back.

Dave and Danny Minchala Try A Pickle

Now the pickle back is spreading! Get wasted on pickle juice at the below institutions:

Whiskey Town
29 East 3rd Street
Manhattan
(212) 505-7344

Bushwick Country Club
618 Grand Street
Brooklyn
(718) 388-2114
(The pickle back originator, yet it’s popular opinion WT offers a pickle juice of superior qual-i-tay)

Nancy Whiskey Pub
1 Lispenard St
Manhattan
(212) 226-9943

The Breslin (off the menu)
16 W 29th St
Manhattan
(212) 685-9600

1 1/2 c. sugar
1 cup of cream cheese
½ c of butter
1 tbs. of almond paste
1 package of banana baby food
1 cup of mini chocolate chips
3/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 c. flour
3 bananas, crushed
1 c. pecan, diced sm

Preheat oven to 350 degrees:

-Cream first 4 ingredients. Add banana baby food.
-Mix eggs in, one at a time. Add soda, salt, and flour while mixing at medium speed.
-Add chocolate chips and then mix in bananas and nuts.
-Bake in greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pans for 1 hour until toothpick comes out clean.

Eggs:

4 eggs

1/4 cup of heavy cream

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of ground black pepper

1 ts of unsalted butter

Pesto:

1 cup of fresh basil

2 tbs of pignoli nuts

1 clove of garlic

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of parmesean

Loaf of Italian bread or baguette

goat cheese

*Make the pesto first since this can easily be made a head of  time and you dont want to get distracted while cooking the eggs.*

Grind pignoli nuts in food processor first. Add the basil, garlic, and salt to the mix and process until it  forms a paste.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, then add the Parmigiano 1 tablespoon at a time - until thick. Set aside covered.

 Heat up butter in a pan on low heat while whipping eggs and cream together in a bowl. Once combined and butter foams, add egg and cream mixture to the pan. Slowly stir the eggs from the outside of the pan to the center with a rubber spatula until the eggs form soft little pillows.This will take about 10 minutes.

Cut the bread up in thin slices and toast. Slather a good amount of goat cheese on each slice after toast, then pesto, then top with scrambled eggs. Delicious.

What’s the difference between a mind-blowing dish of pasta and an ordinary, run of the mill pasta plate? That’s right, it’s the ingredients. Besides the super-awesome-amazing scent and taste, Purple Lab puts some of the best ingredients around in their Huge Lips, Skinny Hips gloss. Here are a few of my favorites:

Meadowfoam oil: has a great ability to bind moisture to the skin -this helps to keep your lips soft and smooth

Lemon Peel Oil: every lip gloss/lip plumper has a bit of a sting to it but, the lemon oil gives an immediate cooling effect counteracting the sting - brillant!

Vitamin B3: stimulates blood flow to the lips, creating a super sexy pout. Its also been known to help treat migraines - who knew?

Orange Peel Extract: a natural metabolism booster AND may provide relief for occasional heartburn/acid indigestion

Hoodia: an extract from a cactus-ish plant (known as ‘cactiform’ since they are like but not related to cacti) that is indigenous to South Africa and Namibia. Studies have shown that Hoodia may be a natural appetite suppressant since it mimics the effects of sugar in your body to make you feel ‘full’.

If you read any of my blogs you know I tend to always be right smack in the middle of a battle with weight loss. A delicious lip gloss with a hint of Hoodia might be JUST what the doctor ordered for me. In fact, I KNOW it is.

Huge Lips Skinny Hips comes in four great shades: Clear as Crystal (No Panty Lines), Mauve Shimmer (Worship Kate), Pink Sheer (Kitty Pole Dance) and Sheer Red (Red Sole). Pick one and rock it - mines Worship Kate, what’s yours?

I arrived early to the Natural Gourmet Institute (a fantastic vegetarian cooking school – more on that in a later blog) and was greeted by the very friendly Post Cereal staff with the most adorable light blue apron I had seen in a long time. For me? Why THANK YOU Post Cereal.  Guests were treated to a delightful healthy breakfast and a brief presentation by the Diet Doctor herself; Dr. Melina Jampolis. Dr. Jampolis spoke about her life mantra “food is medicine” and the health benefits of Post Cereal Shredded Wheat. You might not know this ladies and gentlemen but Shredded Wheat is made solely of wheat berries. Don’t feel bad, I was totally shocked when I heard that too. I mean, I knew Shredded Wheat was good for me but I never realized it was that good for me. How could I have been eating this cereal for years and not know what was really in it? I felt like a total goose…

How nutritious are wheat berries? Unlike many other types of grains, wheat berries retain nearly all of their nutrients after being cooked. Wheat berries are packed with fiber, protein and iron. They are also loaded with vitamin E, a cell-protecting antioxidant, and magnesium, which are needed to maintain healthy bones and muscles. Talk about Healthy!!! Also, Dr. Jampolis went on to point out that unlike most cereal brands today trying to first incorporate whole grains into their products, Post Cereal Shredded Wheat has always been composed of naturally occurring grain.

Although I am not allowed to tell everyone the recipe for Shredded Wheat, I will simply say: it is easy, healthy, and delicious. Go out and get yourself a box this weekend because it will surely help you with any kind of diet/health program you have laid out for yourself.  I know I bought a box during my grocery trip this weekend.

Oh…and in case you were wondering, I lost the competition. There go my plans for two new Ruffoni monogrammed copper pots…

Now, I repeat my previous statement, I by no means consider myself a vegan.  However, there are definite health (and taste!) benefits to substituting some common cuisine for vegan products.  Stōgo is a perfect example.  Just take a look at the difference in calories, fat, sugars, and cholesterol!  

 Whether or not you’re a practicing vegan, I definitely recommend checking out this health conscious and satisfying alternative to the mainstream calorie-laden variety.  And while you’re there deciding which of the 31 flavors to try, take a peek at their homemade truffles.  Delish!!

Stōgo Gourmet Ice Cream

159 2nd Avenue

New York, NY 10003

212 677 2301

http://stogonyc.com

Anyways, what I was really here to ‘scuss was how I need to take a break from Manhattan. Well, not the city itself, but the restaurant scene. Well, not enjoying the restaurant scene, but working in the Manhattan restaurant scene. I tried to stick it through, and I think I did pretty well, but after five years of long commutes to and through Manhattan from Staten Island, I’m tired! In the time it takes me to get to work (about an hour and fifteen) I could take a flight to D.C.! Or the time it took me to get to school via bus-ferry-train-train (two and a half hours) I could have driven to Atlantic City! Or Woodstock! Or I could have flown to Detroit! Not that I find any reason to take a flight to Detroit… the point being, I love Manhattan with all my heart, but this long distance relationship is very trying.

Things were so much easier when I lived in Fort Greene. Manhattan and I would spend so many endless summer nights together, and it never mattered how late I was out because I had an unlimited metrocard, the Q ran every fifteen minutes aaaalll night long and I lived a fifteen minute train ride away. The commute, which took me over the Manhattan Bridge, treated me to a beautiful view of the harbor between Brooklyn and Manhattan and its sister bridges, nightly (how romantic!). Manhattan and I were inseparable. Until I went back home.

Maybe I should have taken a job somewhere where the food meant more than giving the b&t crowd what they want. Tacky dishes and oversized portions. It’s sickening! “Corn cappuccino” I think was what irked me the most. It was soup. No, broth.  It was a boring corn broth with some foam on top. If the rest of the menu doesn’t reflect a passion for hi-tech gastronomy, then why do it at all? That’s why the corn capp is a failure, its not honest, it’s show-boaty! So there’s the cappuccino, and the soy-ginger salmon, and the halibut with gnocchi, and the rib-eye, the hanger steak with chimichurri, and the soufflé. Have you caught on to what cuisine we’re actually supposed to be enjoying? Did you figure out from what part of the world we’re focusing our flavors from, or drawing inspiration? Neither did I. It must be an eclectic Japa-Hispan-Ita-French-erican land. What brilliance!

I need to step out, take a deep breath and find a place where I can be around some real, good, honest, love-filled cooking. Yet, what holds me back is the personal thing I have. Everyone has a thing and mine is “don’t work where you love.” I’m not saying don’t love where you work. I hope you love where you work; I want to love where I work! But if you already love a place, my personal example would be Bar Boulud, it would not be a good idea to become a behind-the-scenes member. It can and will ruin, or at least taint, your love for said establishment! You love it because of the ambiance, the ambiance from your outside point of view (and you can come and go as you please because you don’t work there!) You love it because of the delicious food, the delicious food you don’t see a hundred times a night, four nights a week. You also love the friendly staff, of which you don’t know personally and so niceties are required, and the management is just stellar, because you don’t work under them. See my point? I came very close to getting burned by the love fire when I interviewed with Boulud’s Dinex group. I was so honored and enthralled that they were interested in. I beefed up my resume and I put on my best smile for the first interview with HR at the Dinex headquarters. So there I sat, waiting in the conference room surrounded by personal photos on Daniel himself and all his awards. I’m talking James Beard awards, Michelin Stars, Wine Spectator awards, and on and on just lining the walls (oh man! Ooohhh man!). I sat and soaked in my surroundings in awe, just hoping the woman interviewing me would be preoccupied for just a little longer. She loved me (woohoo!) and referred me to Bar Boulud (omg omg omg).

From there things got tense, fast. The GM was one of the most intimidating Frenchmen I’ve met,  to date. Not that I’ve met a lot-a lot of Frenchmen, but I’ve met plenty of foreign men! Now, this man isn’t even my boss yet, if he even will be at all, but he goes on telling me how he is very particular about what his hostesses wear, how they stand, where they stand, punctuality, language, attitude, poise (poise?? Shit…all women in France have natural poise… crap crap crap), memorizing regulars and their likes and dislikes, yadda yadda and more yadda. Oh man, this is already crumbling the façade that keeps real Bar Boulud hidden from me. I don’t like this! So, I declined on the offer. Phew! That was close. Too close.

So if not the cheap and gaudy mega-restaurants, and if not the amazing fine dining restaurants from truly talented chefs, then where? Where will I be happy until I get a degree and a job and become a real person?

I’ve decided to venture. It would only be a personal venture, since I’m actually going to stay closer to home. There are two approaches I’m deciding between: sniff out hidden jewels in Staten Island, or work in well known, foodie-respected establishments in Brooklyn. So will it be Marlow & Sons or Dosi Café?  Juliette or Angelina’s? I have little to no opinion on both sides and the Brooklyn food scene is something that I am sadly unfamiliar with.

Like Anthony Bourdain, I’m afraid I missed the boat on the whole Brooklyn chefs movement. Of course, the next big “up and coming” NYC restaurant destination borough is Queens, so does this make Bk passé or a well established land of gastronomic giants? I think that’s up for discussion another time…

While in Glasgow visiting friends I found myself having lunch at the Cranachan Café in the unlikely (for Scotland) bourgeoisie shopping arcade of Princes Square.  The café’s specialty is as advertised “Coffee & Modern Scottish Fayre” and it is mighty good fare, despite its cutsie Scottish spelling.  

Off their menu I chose to order the Cullen Skink soup ( I’m always attracted to menu items that could easily be misread or mispronounced…I like Poisson) which is a traditional Scottish soup consisting of smoked haddock pieces swimming in a creamy broth with leeks and corn.  Cranachan claimed this was their specialty soup which meant it could either go terribly right or wonderfully wrong, with absolutely no room for anything in between.  Thus, I was anticipating being served a liquid version of Janet Jackson and her exposed nipples, a hit or miss affair depending on mood and timing.

When the dish arrived it had an appearance a bit like that of a  leek and potato soup  and it was also  served with two pieces of hardy looking brown bread.  I could not help but feel I  stepped into a minimal security cafeteria prison where a white collar criminal was about to pinch my credit card details at any moment. My concern thankfully vanished with the first spoonful of Cullen Skink:  the creamy broth had a slightly heavy semi-sweetness about it while the haddock was a melting excursion of meatiness. These flavours made a wonderfully soothing winter soup reticent of a proper New England chowder (found mostly in New York where no actual New Englander is available to perform a culinary massacre).  What made the dish particularly delicious, however, was the brown bread that was served with the soup ( I must admit that if I miss anything by living in the UK it is decent bread). It was flavorsome and absorbent bread perfect for dipping into soup (and perhaps even for some sharp cheddar and Irish butter), the kind of bread one would like to be served for their last living meal. I wish Mary, Queen of Scots, had this delightful bread before her head ended up decorating one of Queen Elizabeth’s front parlors. Imagine the scandal of Elizabeth trying to wipe a smirk of the dead Mary’s face! Alas, even in death Mary disappointed the Scots (and me) but fortunately, back in present times, the bread was a very tasty affair for me.

Unfortunately, however, the combination of the heavy bread and creamy soup meant I was too stuffed to have pudding with my friends, who ended up ordering a sizeable scone (think face, body and stringy limbs of that round headed scientist from the Muppets). I did try the other thing Cranachan advertises, coffee and that happily was a very nice cup of coffee. I highly recommend you visit Cranachan if you find yourself in Glasgow and in need of comfort food, pleasant service and perhaps even some refreshing décor (Timorous Beasties design marks are found throughout the premises).

(For more details please visit Cranachan’s website: http://www.cranachancafe.co.uk/ ).

Stay tuned for Eugenes opinions on food and life because they will have you rolling in the aisles!