Born Round

I just finished reading Frank Bruni's autobiography. He was the former New York Times Food Critic.

His life story about his struggle with food and eating is funny, sad, touching and entertaining.

Thanks to the Public Library I was able to read this book.

Cupcake Stop

This cupcake truck was parked on Broadway near Spring Street in NYC's Soho so I tried an Oreo crumb cupcake ($2.50). It was good with chunks of Orea and a nice dollop of frosting on top.

5 For $35

The Provencal restaurant, Paradou, in NYC's Meat Packing District at 8 Little West 12th Street had a special 5 courses for $35 deal from Oct 27-29. "T" and I made our way there on the last day to take advantage of this special offer while dining in their hidden year-round garden.

Appetizer: Lightly Broiled Curried Sea Scallop with Seaweed Salad & Fresh Herbs

Fish Course: Seared Red Snapper, Saffron Fumet, Canadian Sturgeon Caviar & Micro Mizuna

Main Course: Slow Roasted Capon with Roasted Beet Puree & Mache Lettuce

Cheese Course (for 2 people): 2 Cheeses & 2 Chef Kfir's Confitures (peaches and mixed berries)

Dessert Course (for 2 people): 3 Desserts - Meringue topped with cream, fruit tart, flourless chocolate cake with carmelized bananas.

Everything was delicious and beautifully presented. We shall return!

Foodie Films

Babette's Feast

This is my most favorite food film. It really centers around food, cooking and eating.

La Maison Macarons

La Maison du Chocolat in NYC's Rockefeller Center offers macarons as well as fine chocolates. They are more expensive than other macarons of comparable size available in NYC. And they only had 4 flavors available.

Small $2.50

Large $5.00

I tried the caramel and it was okay. Chocolates are more their forte.

The Texas State Fair Part II

Just before she passed out from caloric overload "C" sent another report:

1. Chicken Fried Bacon - this year we went to another vendor and they didn't fry the bacon first so it wasn't that good. The coating was greasy and the bacon was soft and not crispy.
2. Country Fried Pork Chips - This was very good. The pork chops were sliced very thin and the batter was a light corn meal with lots of pepper. Very tender, crispy and down right good.
3. Sweet Jalapeno Corn Dog Shrimp - the shrimp were good and the sauce was good, but the corn dog batter was too thick and kind of ruined the experience. Would have been better with a tempura coating...flavor was good though.
4. Deep Fried Jalapeno dipped in chocolate - 3 jalapenos stuffed with monterey jack cheese, battered, deep fried and then dipped in chocolate. The only problem was they cleaned out all the membranes and the seeds so there was NO heat what-so-ever. Again that ruined the whole idea. The chocolate sauce was amazing though!
5. Deep Fried Pecan Pie - SOOOOO good, it was cooked to perfection. It was one of those little pecan pies and it was battered, deep fried and then covered with a pecan sauce and whipped cream. It was orgasmic!!!!!!
6. Deep Fried Chocolate Truffle - warm, melty, gooey .....Yum.

The Texas State Fair Part I

"C" is my roving report in Dallas and was happy to report that everything is still fried in Dallas!

She tried the following:
1. Green Goblin
2. Fried Butter with cherry sauce
3. Fried Butter Original
4. Fried Peaches and Cream (fresh peaches on the side and fresh peaches battered and deep fried. The batter was crunch, kind of like a coffee cake topping, sweet and cinnamony. A dollup of whipped cream with cherry sauce and a little dish of fresh cream and cinnamon).
This was Excellent! Winner of the Big Tex Best Tasting.
And the Fried butter was the winner of Big Tex Most Creative.
5. Fried Peanut Butter Cup Macaroon
This was just OK. I think if they had cooked it longer it would have been better. The peanut butter cup wasn't melted enough. The sweetened coconut was yummy and made it kinda taste like an Almond Joy.

Another of my favorite things

Trader Joe's Mango Sorbet. It's a light dessert that tastes great!

$3.99/container (1 Liter)

NYC Dumpling Festival 2009

Today was the first annual NYC Dumpling Festival which was held at Sara D. Roosevelt Park on E. Houston Street. All proceeds of the event benefit Food Bank for NYC.

They sold tickets for $5 each which were exchanged for plates at each booth. There were "dumplings" from all around the world:

Italy - Gnocchi

Philippines - Palitaw

India - Idli

China - Bao, steamed dumplings and spring rolls

Mexico - Tamale

Malaysia - Kuih Koci

Poland - Pierogi

"J", "R" and I tried the steamed dumplings (veggie and chicken), spring rolls (veggie) and Kuih Koci (coconut filled sticky dough dumplings wrapped in banana leaves). All were good.

There was a dumpling eating competition (men's and women's), a dumpling mascot, a giant dumpling and free samples of bottled water and ginger drinks.

Despite the rain there seemed to be a good turnout.

"I'll have what she's having."

...is the famous line from the movie "When Harry Met Sally". The scene was filmed in the famous NYC deli, Katz's, located at 205 E. Houston Street. The table where this was filmed has a sign hanging above it, but tourists and residents flock to Katz for the food. The pastrami is wonderful, tender and not too fatty. Yes, the counter lines may be scary, but they move quickly. And if you are too xenophobic to wait with the crowds Katz does offer table service.

I had the classic pastrami sandwich on rye with mustard $14.95 (with complimentary pickles) and a Dr. Brown's Cream Soda $2.

Shaved Ice

Several years ago I was fortunate to visit Honolulu. While there I fell in love with Mr. Morimoto's shaved ice and have been looking for suitable substitute ever since. I think I have finally found something comparable that offers the combination of finely shaved ice, red beans and ice cream.

In NYC's Koreatown on West 32nd Street is Koryodang - a modern cafe that offers shaved ice with red bean for $8.99. This is a shaved ice version of a sundae that is big enough to share between 2-3 people. The foundation is fluffy shaved ice layered with red beans and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, enrobed with various diced fruits such as kiwi, peaches and strawberries, and topped with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. The consensus is to mix it all up before eating, but the presentation is way to pretty to do so.

4 other shaved ice versions are offered as well as bubble tea, bubble slush, waffles, crepes, various pastries and coffee.