I was joined by another ladle for a winter wonderland adventure and boy oh boy did we do some adventuring. While we didn’t make it to the High Line, we did enjoy ogling some nice new and recycled fashions and housewares at the Brooklyn Flea, which is housed in the cavernous and gorgeous building that was once home to the Williamsburgh Savings Bank.
Dining Out with Parents
My parents and I don’t really share the same culinary inclinations: they are less adventuresome, processed-foods enthusiasts whereas I am all about throwing down hard-earned cash for locally grown, well-made grub. Call me crazy but I’m a little sensitive about what goes all up in my body. Therefore, dining out in New York is one of the more difficult things I have to navigate when they’re in town.
Good manners prevail, they are the guests after all, and so I try my best to be a good host and go with the flow. Suffice it to say I ate a lot of junk, some good (Katz’s was actually alright) and some bad (those garlic fries at Yankee stadium?!?). By the time they left I was in desperate need of some cleansing. Good lord did that homemade breakfast of poached organic eggs, local heirloom tomatoes, and fresh local bread do the trick.
Some of you can probably relate.
Photo on left is but a small portion of our table at Katz’s. Photo on right is that amazing breakfast.
The Apricot Blossom
Oh hey gang, where you looking for some cocktail inspiration? Lucky for you, I’ve got fodder for your fire. You can find it over at Saveur.com and here’s a little tease:
I’m a whiskey drinker who, with the exception of an Old Fashioned, likes her cocktails simple and straightforward. Any drink with a long ingredient list evokes bad memories of loud clubs; in contrast, I’m of the mind that it takes a certain amount of bartending finesse to make a perfectly balanced cocktail using only a few ingredients, and I’m inclined to reward that. So I’m still a little mystified as to how one of my new favorite drinks is a rum cocktail comprised of a whopping six ingredients.
I am working on some rum recipes for a Friday cocktail and wanted to make sure I understood the concept of pressed ginger. Found this woman and her shirt in a how-to video.
HotLadles, this is a service message to remind ourselves that friends never let friends wear tie-dye.
Dining Rooms: A Voce
Frolleague Sarah B. coordinated a lunch for three at the fabled and fancy A Voce Madison. God bless NYC Restaurant Week!
This was my secondi: grilled sea bass, chickpeas, sun dried tomatoes, salmoriglio.
The food was surprisingly good (dare I say great?) and inventive for Italian fare, but the restaurant was difficult to comprehend. A Voce is a mix between Don Draper’s office and some bad Asian-inspired theme. The chairs—Eames-type leather desk chairs—were so low to the ground that the tables met our chins. (Okay not really, but almost.) Basically, this is THE destination for business lunches. Between tall men.
I made this for a rooftop BBQ last night and it was gonzo amazing. The crisp and sweet watermelon plays so well with the acidic tomatoes, the fragrant parsley and the snappy scallions. And that bite of gargonzola adds just the necessary salty hit. SO GOOD.
(Video still from NYTimes.com)
This amazingly simple trick will come in SUPER HANDY for that strawberry margarita below. Thanks to SAVEUR test kitchen director (and generally pretty great dude) Ben Mims for sharing his wisdom.
Getting Sloppy with Some Strawberry Sunshine
It always happens. Everytime. Never fails.
You meet up with your best ladle-friend and you start out strong being all like, “Oh, just one margarita. Just one! I mean, they’re so good but they’re $12!” But the sun is hitting the buildings just right, and the tequila starts to work its magic and before you know it you’re three drinks deep, and have finished off about 3 bowls of chips and a whole molcajete of guacamole. And you’re now out $60. And starving. And pretty drunk.
Every time. It happens everytime.
But not any more gurl! Because you’ve got some nice tequila, a whole batch of strawberries and some limes. You are good to go on your own terf.
Strawberry Margarita
(I found this recipe online but now can’t. I’m doing my best to re-create from memory.)
Ingredients
2 oz silver tequila
1 oz water
2 big tablespoons of muddled strawberries
1 tablespoon simple syrup
.5 oz lime juice
Instructions
Hull 4-5 strawberries. (AMAZINGLY simple trick for hulling strawberries in this video. Game changer.) Muddle the strawberries in cocktail shaker. Add tequila, simple syrup, lime juice and water. Shake vigorously and pour all contents into glass. Add extra ice cubes if necessary. Garnish with strawberry and lime.
Fuzzy, Fizzy Tequila
I am not much of a tequila ladle myself, but over the weekend I was on a fish taco bender and really wanted to experiment with tequila cocktails. The fact that I think someone slipped me some peyote at this outdoor hippie-festival I stumbled into may have also helped with my desire to experiment. Either way, I was like “Let’s do this!” And so I did.
The Tequila Fizz
Ingredients
2 oz silver tequila
1 oz lime juice
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
club soda/seltzer
Instructions
Combine tequila, lime juice and sugar in shaker. Combine with ice and shake vigorously. Pour in highball or large margarita glass and add club soda/seltzer.
My notes: This simple, refreshingly light drink was actually a lovely suprise to my tequila-averse palate. I used some Sauza Hornitos brand (we got it for free) and it was really balanced. Because there are so few ingredients in this little cocktail you’d benefit from avoiding your drunk uncle’s cheap Cuervo and go for broke on a top-shelf brand. Fish tacos are way more awesome if they don’t come back up. TRUST.
