NY Cookies

Our New York trip was awesome. We had a blast and ate some damn good food. I was super happy when I found this recipe online because Levain Bakery had the best chocolate chip cookies. Me and Jason shared one and then I had a spare for later. Froze it when we got home and it didn't stay in there long. Think I took it out less than a week later. Still delightful. So I made these cookies last night. I have to say they turned out really yummy. They looked just like the cookies from Levain. I didn't have walnuts so just did chocolate. Didn't have amazing chocolate like them, just Nestle chunks, but still good. I thought there was a mistake on the recipe because it didn't call for vanilla but then realized it was supposed to be that way. I have to admit that vanilla is my favorite thing about baked goods so it was really hard for me not to add it anyhow. I must say, they were really really tasty and you didn't miss the vanilla at all. It really lets you pick up on the other flavors of the cookie. I was nervous because I didn't have enough brown sugar to pack it and I didn't have much light brown sugar. Used 1/4 c light brown and the rest dark brown. Was worried about that too but they still turned out. The only thing I didn't like about them was that they were a little too cakey. I was worried about taking them out early to allow them to be doughy in the middle in fear of them sinking. They were still super soft in the middle just not as gooey as I would have liked them to be. I think next time I will add a little less baking soda and cook them for less time. All in all, these were really really good cookies. I will be making them again for sure and this time with nuts and killer chocolate.

Another soup, damn weather

It snowed again this weekend. After two weeks of being in the 50's and 60's. On the first day of spring, it snowed. Oh well. It's already starting to melt. I wanted to take full advantage of the cold weather coming again and make some hearty soup. Yummmmmm. Pasta e fagioli from my favorite web site, foodgawker.com. The soup was delicious. I did used two cans of white beans instead of soaking dry beans. I also used a can of diced tomatoes with about 2 cups of tomato sauce. I like having the bits of tomato in there to enjoy. Served it topped with grated fresh parm and a loaf of rustic bread. What a delightful lunch and can't wait to have it again for dinner. YUMMMMMMMMMM!

Tomato love, or is it basil, heck it's both

I was watching Barefoot Contessa on saturday morning on the Food Network. She was talking about the produce she gets in the summer. She made the most amazing thing I have ever seen and knew I must make it so that I could taste it in all of its delight. Scalloped Tomatoes. That's right, not potatoes, tomatoes. Totally Italian, totally fresh, and totally amazing. It was perfect because we had made the tomato soup and had a huge loaf of bread left. This recipe starts out with toasting cubes of bread in a pan with oil. Yummmy. So I did it, and I must tell you it was amazing. I mean absolutely amazing. I would sit and eat it for a meal. I could not believe how much I loved it. I will be making it again throughout the summer now that tomatoes will be in full swing and plenty of fresh basil. I ended up using some larger cherry tomatoes that I found at the store. Just halved them and it was perfect. I loved the sweetness of the smaller tomatoes. I would highly recommend doing the same. Enjoy!

Simple recipe you must make

I am always excited when I get a new magazine in the mail, mainly because all of mine are food magazines and it means new recipes! In my new Body and Soul Magazine they had a section on eating more veggies and this was a recipe I found. I knew I had to make it right away. You have to believe me when I tell you, this was one of the most delicious things I have ever made at home. It's one of those things that is so simple you can't believe how amazing the final outcome is. It tasted like something you would eat out at a really nice restaurant and remember forever. Jason loved it and I added some noodles to Lucy's bowl because I knew she wouldn't eat it otherwise. She is convinced that she doesn't like tomatoes, but she does. She may not know it yet. Please, I beg of you, if you only make one thing from my blog, make this. It is delightful! The fresh basil is a must.

Tomato Soup with Poached Eggs-Adapted from Body and Soul Magazine
serves 4
2 T olive oil extra for bread and drizzling
3-4 cloves garlic sliced very thinly plus another clove for toast
pinch of red pepper flakes
Place the oil, garlic cloves and red pepper flakes in a tall sided skillet or pan over medium heat. Cook just until the garlic turns golden.
1 28 oz can of plum tomatoes with juices, coarsely chopped (I drained mine keeping the liquids in a bowl and then chopped the tomatoes on a board adding it all)
3 c water
1 1/2 t kosher salt
1/4 t fresh ground pepper
4 large eggs
4 slices of rustic bread (we put two pieces in the bottom of our bowl because they were kind of small and frankly we like bread)
shredded fresh basil for garnish

Add the tomatoes, water, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes. Crack eggs into individual small bowls. Carefully lower into the liquid each egg, then cover and simmer 3-4 minutes. Do not overcook. They say to broil the bread under the broiler. Brush it with the olive oil and when it's done rub it with a garlic clove that is cut in half. I kept burning my bread so you could put it in the toaster too if it fits. Maybe you will have better luck with yours. I went through two batches of toast I had to throw out.
To serve, put the bread in the bottom of the bowl with the basil. Scoop out the egg and place it on top of the toast, then ladle in the soup around it.
This is pure heaven. I am warning you. If you want to eat something that will freak your freak, then make this. My husband didn't stop talking about it all weekend. He told me, please don't forget about this one. This is one we need to have again and again. I agree. This is the most simple thing I have made with the most flavorful results. Please enjoy!

Bo Ssam

Our Momofuku adventure has begun. For Christmas Jason got me the Momofuku cookbook. Momofuku is a restaurant that me Jason discovered on our first trip to New York. This is one of the most amazing places in the world. We couldn't stop talking about it. We had these pork belly buns that were to die for, a ramen dish that was out of this world and a rice cake shrimp salad. It was a meal that would go on living in our memories forever. So naturally on our next trip to New York, we knew that Momofuku would be part of our journey. Momofuku Ko is one of the hardest places to get reservations in the country. David Chang has never made an exception for anyone no matter how famous in getting reservations at Ko. At 10 in the morning on I think the second week of the month or something specific, you can get online and for a split second try and book a slot to Ko. There are only 12 seats. The moment you click on one, they are gone. Somehow, by the grace of God, my mom got us in. I was having her try and get one at the same time as me. Somehow she got us in for 9 o'clock at night. I didn't care if it was midnight. This place was insane. You will have to read my post on it if you are interested at all. We also checked out his place called Milk Bar which is a bakery with many interesting desserts including cereal milk ice cream and "crack pie". It was good. The chocolate cake I had was insane. I can't remember the exact details but I do know the middle layer was some kind of yellow cake crumbled into a buttercream icing. Delicious. On our next trip we are going to try the only one left that we haven't tried and that is Momofuku Ssam Bar. It is going to be great. All I have read are great things. David Chang is also in the works of opening a place called Ma Peche. It may be open in time for us. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

This cookbook is just off the hook. Things the average person would just not make in their home. However, we are determined to try at least some of them. There are people out there that are cooking their way through this book. To them, I admire you and pitty you at the same time. It is a lot of work, not only to find the ingredients but to make the dish.


Jason has been asking me to make this Bo Ssam for weeks now. Really since he gave me the book for Christmas, so I decided to indulge him. Boy am I happy I did. It was a lot of work but when we sat down to eat that meal on Sunday afternoon, it was worth every bit of it. I think I say it was difficult because it actually took a lot of planning out. Making it was pretty simple. Just make sure you are going to be home for 6 plus hours to baste the pork. He set his alarm and woke up at 5 am on Sunday in order to put that bad boy in the oven. Then woke up every hour to baste it. The night before you cover it in sea salt. Having made it once now we decided we would probably rinse it the next day before baking it as some bites were very very salty. It was flavorful though. During the last 15 minutes you crank up the oven to 500 and cover it in brown sugar and salt. It created this delicious crust on the pork. The pork was so tender we didn't think we could get it from the pot to the platter without it completely falling apart. You can see in the picture when even with the help of two of us, the end came apart. It was phenomenal, amazing, delicious, tasty. Everything we could have hoped for. We created a meal in our home that sells for $200 at his restaurant and must be pre ordered in advance. This was an amazing feast. It is served in bibb lettuce cups.




We made a ginger scallion sauce and kimchi that were also in the book. Both were phenomenal. I mean, I could not stop eating the kimchi. It was so tasty. It was super simple too. The only odd things we really had to add to it were salted jarred shrimp and Korean chili powder but we found them both at our supermarket. The kimchi was a process. That you cut up and set in the fridge overnight with a sprinkling of salt and sugar. The next day you add the rest of the ingredients and let it set another 24 hours. We didn't let it set. It was amazing right away. Kimchi is meant to be eaten after it has become fermented but to us it was amazing right away.


We also served it with white rice and some quick pickled cucumbers that were also in the book. They were perfect. I would highly recommend this dish for any gathering you want to impress the hell out of someone or even to enjoy yourself. There is nothing bad about having leftovers. Trust me, these leftovers only get better and better.

Tuscan Vegetable Soup

This week I got super motivated to cook as I haven't had the energy to much lately. All it took was me getting angry about eating crap all week. Spaghetti noodles with sauce from a jar and sliced chicken sausage is not my idea of making dinner. So on thursday I drug Lucy out to Garden Fresh to stock up on the goods. For lunch I decided to make us fajitas. And they were delicious. I am craving them right now. Garden Fresh sells a mix in the meat counter so it was super cheap and simple. Had some tortillas already so lunch was done. For dinner I was going to make my tride and true sloppy joe recipe that I have made at least a dozen times according to my cookbook. I always write the date on the page with the recipe so that I know how many times and when I made the dish. I usually comment on how the dish came out as well so I know if I should not make it again. In this case, yeah, I should make it again.

Ellie Kreiger is my hero. I was looking at her cookbook and made all three of my dishes from this book. I have made a fair amount of recipes out of this book. Everything but one has been something I would make again. All of her dishes are healthy but full of flavor. I made her tabbouleh salad. It was really good the first day I must say, however the second and third day it was lacking something. If I wouldn't have been feeding it to Jason I would have put some green olives diced in there to give it some umph. Other than that it was a really light and refreshing salad in the middle of winter.

The last dish I made was really yummy. A Tuscan Vegetable Soup. It was full of healthy vegetables, beans, and tomatoey broth. It was the perfect meal to eat today and the crusty French loaf just put it over the edge. I would highly recommend a sprinkling of parmesean in the end. It really finished off the soup nicely. I didn't have fresh so I just used the old foot powder and it tasted great. I would definitely be making this soup again.

Vietnamese Chicken Sandwich Banh mi

Another great meal. I have been feeling very inspired lately. I am happy that we ventured away from Mexican for a few meals, not that I am tired of it, as I never will be, but just because there are so many other types of food we love. Vietnamese being one of them.
Even though there are a few steps in this meal really it is super easy. If you know how to marinate chicken and dice up veggies you are good to go. I have to say this recipe made me realize my love for a good French loaf. This sandwich was so amazing and we were so happy to be able to get two meals out of it. Jason would not stop talking about it. I mean he was in love with the things. I was too but I mean this guy was in love. It was pretty damn good. Like I wish I could eat it right now again. I wasn't sure how he would like it with the pickled vegetables on top but I must say, and we kept talking about it during the meal, was that everything went so well together. We garnished ours with thinly sliced red onion, cilantro, jalapenos, cucumbers and the pickled veggies. Man, I can not tell you how amazing this was. If you want to make something that tastes like you are eating out in the city make this. It will be a nice treat for you.




I found the recipe through my favorite web site ever foodgawker.com. If you have never checked it out, do for sure. It is a labyrinth of recipes upon recipes. You could see this one for example for the Vietnamese sammies and click on it and boom, you could find more recipes on that person blog. It's bascially the most amazing site ever. Please try and make these and you will be amazed how delicious you can make something at home. Chinese five spice is pure love.