Keeping Busy

Met Steps

Just in case you were wondering, there have been many delicious comings and goings in my life lately. They've kept me busy, but after a break from writing and a visit to New York, I'm back!

Uncle(?!) Dom and Evan

During my visit to see my new nephew and my family in New York,  I jumped at every chance I had to eat some and drink some things that despite our global economy, you just can't get outside of New York. Or at least, you can't get it in Taiwan.

Coffee, Chocolate Chip Cookie and a Pretzel

     I had really delicious and ingenious pretzel croissant from City Bakery in Manhattan. What a great idea, and a different, but simple take on a classic. What a wonderful croissant! Or was it a heavenly pretzel?

     On that note, City Bakery is the kind of place I admire. They have a simple menu, but everything on it is good, and is done their way. Nothing flashy. That is going to be my philosophy on cooking, I think.

     I stopped by my usual haunt, Madeline's Patisserie on West 23rd. I have fond memories of this place, and it is true that if you just happen across a really nice place by chance, for me at least, I always feel a strong connection to it.  I first found the place in 2007. I was volunteering at the International Center of New York as a language tutor, and stopped in for a coffee before a class. It may have been the lesson I ever gave, I'm not sure. I was an overworked bleary-eyed graduate student then at Queens College, so I stopped in this quaint bakery for a coffee. Wow. The whole class I was thinking about the way that place smelled. So good.

      This time around, I took my mother there. My sister thought their macarons eye- poppingly good, better than even those Laduree ones her husband brings home from his office at the French bank.

Central Park

     It was a really warm afternoon for January. I saw a lot of folks in Central Park, and I seemed to notice a lot moreof bikes on the street than the last time I was around.

     I strolled around the new American wing at the Met. I saw a windowful of black and white cookies, and decided that I need to eat one on the sidewalk and get in people's way while taking pictures, cookie in one hand, camera in the other.

B/W cookie

     The Met has got Washington Crossing the Delaware there now, and it is big. A smaller version hung in the stairwell in my elementary school. I used remember thinking, "What was so special about crossing a river?"

MET Atrium

     That was cool to see the real one. The figures are larger than real people. What really caught my eye were the stunning works of Fu Baoshi 傅抱石. 

     While enjoying the coffee and wifi in that gallery's new atrium, I I found that I wasn't far from Two Red Hens American Bakery.  I stopped in for some cookies, and boy was I glad. Sensational Chocolate Cookies and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. I didn't take pictures there because it was too crowded. Afterwards, the cookies were gone before I could get the camera out. Sorry.

I missed my friend Ken. Thanks for the beers.

Another reason to visit Belgium

     My best friend showed me around Hell's Kitchen for some tasty beer and much needed banter.

     It was the week before the Giants won the Super Bowl. There was even a bar called "Brady's" that had covered up its sign with a temporary tarp that read, of course, "Eli's."

Class is in session

    I learned that you can take a cooking class in Manhattan if you're comfortable having the world watch through the windows.

Can't argue with the boss

     It wouldn't be trip to New York without bagels. I met my aunt for Bagels at Bagel Boss of Merrick the next morning.

Chef Vinny at work

     One day (I can't remember which day owing to the Jet lag) my father resumed his old tradition of cooking pancakes for me. He did this for years for me every Saturday. My bedroom happened to be about seven feet from the stove, so the smell of browning butter always crept into my bedroom to beckon me from beneath the sheets.

Rigatoni Porcini Sausage Gorganzola and Cream

     I was so thankful, I whipped up some pasta for him.

     Needless to say, this has all been a great inspiration for me. There's lots of cooking in my near future!