I really wanted some buttery avocado for lunch and thanks to a little inspiration (thank you, Serious Eats), came up with this healthy, tasty sandwich. Mashed avocado with lemon juice, salt, and pepper, baby arugula dressed with more lemon, and sliced tomatoes between two fresh slices of sourdough bread.
I put my sandwich on a small George Foreman grill (a panini maker would do the trick too) for three minutes or so until the bread was toasted and the insides of the sandwich were barely warmed.
Happy eating everyone!
I think I have eaten eggs at least 5 days a week this semester, which is not good for my cholesterol. I didn’t have eggs yesterday, so this morning I was suffering withdrawal and needed to satisfy my cravings. I made a 4 egg omelette – the largest I’ve ever made, but with only the yolk from one egg.
I filled my omelette with asparagus, white mushrooms, onion, and gruyere cheese. This is by far the best omelette I’ve made. Perhaps I have a future as a chef who works at an omelette station?
You don’t seem to understand my happiness when I say there is a really good churros place in my neighborhood. Yes, Le Churro (I probably like this place even more because the name sounds French) sells delicious churros with a variety of toppings to choose. I ordered 4 churros with chocolate hazelnut dipping sauce. I wish the sauce was warm, but alas, I am still happy!
They also sell other treats here like cookies, chocolates, and small sandwiches.
Honestly, need I say more? Go to Schaller and Weber to get one of these German-style pretzels (way better than the ones the vendors sell on the street). Schaller and Weber also has really good deli meats, marzipan, and Mozartkugel. The chocolates are pricey, probably because they are imported from Europe, so I generally just stare at them and drool. But I will probably buy some this break!
A couple of weekends ago, I went with some friends to a new pizzeria in Amherst called Arise. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the pizza, in a good way. This cute restaurant has a number of yummy looking pizzas to choose from with a variety of different toppings.
We split the carnival which had sausage, red peppers, caramelized onions, and mozzarella. We also ordered a temptation which had apple, onion, pecorino, and mozzarella. I preferred the carnival even though I don’t usually like sausage on my pizza.
Thank you for lifting my mood, Arise.
It feels so nice to be on spring break for a week, even though the weather is playing games with me. It’s snowing in the city, and as much as I enjoy snow, it’s mid-March right now, and I would rather it be sunny and warm.
Despite the cold, I went for a walk because if you know me at all, I really love walking. I am a native New Yorker after all. Today is the Saint Patrick’s day parade, so I encountered many people decked out in green. I was wearing a gray coat with a sort of green tint – does that count? (Not that I celebrate Saint Patty’s day…)
I had the brilliant idea to buy cake after my walk. I mean come on, rewards are the best! I walked a couple of miles, and as the snow got stronger, I decided to head home and make a pitstop at Lady M Confections. I had never been, but I heard good things, so as a food follower, I figured I would check it out. (And that’s why I decided to call this post MYC rather than NYC).
Lady M is a very cute bakery and has delicious-looking cakes. I bought a chocolate raspberry cake, though I was really tempted to buy a mont blanc (which has chestnut puree). I will try it next time. I did not regret my pick AT ALL. The cake was chocolatey and awesome and tasted like biting into a large truffle. And it was not too rich – just the way I like it. There was even some praline layer at the bottom, which added a really nice crunch. My one complaint would be that there was not enough jam, so I added more at home. Regardless, it was a very good dessert.
Lady M, you won my heart. Hello MYC, it’s nice to be home.
I was craving sticky buns for the longest time. Every morning this past week, I’d wake up with sticky buns in the back of my mind (or right at the front). Rather than buying some, I made them from scratch, and I found that they were not that difficult to make!
I pretty much followed the recipe on Simply recipes. But I ran into an obstacle, which you most likely won’t. I used some light brown sugar that was already opened for I don’t even know how long, so of course it had turned into a solid rock. (I should have asked my friends who are geology majors for some tools to break it apart). I first tried hitting the sugar on my cutting board, slowly chipping away the large mass of sugar. But I saw this would take way too much time and effort. I finally decided to add a little hot water to the sugar, and this really helped melt the sugar. I then added the ground cinnamon. (So my brown sugar cinnamon filling looked like molasses).
I want to say that it’s not laziness that has stopped me from making sticky buns but actually the amount of butter that is required to make them. Much to my delight, I found that I only needed to use 1 stick of butter rather than 1 1/2 sticks. And the buns still came out deliciously despite using 1/3 less butter. I think what actually permitted me to use less butter was my molasses mixture. Because rather than my cinnamon and brown sugar filling be dry (like the recipe called for), it was wet from the warm water I added. The wetness of the mixture made it spread easily on the rolled out dough. (Rather than slathering the dough with butter to let the dry cinnamon brown sugar mixture dissolve. So I cut out the 4 tbsp of butter in the filling).
And my craving is satisfied!
There is a relatively new bakery in my neighborhood called Maison Kayser. It’s been around since the summer, but I never went inside. From the window, you can glance into the store and see an array of breads and pastries. I decided to try out this bakery, so I bought a brownie with pecans. I wanted something simple after all. The brownie was the perfect texture – soft and fudgy, and the pecans added the right amount of crunch factor. Need I say more? I will definitely have to bake one of these bad boys this weekend.
Whenever I go to a French restaurant for lunch and there is a croque-monsieur on the menu, I will order it 50% of the time (I’m getting so mathematical here). Croque-monsieur is just a really good French version of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. For some reason, I cannot replicate it at home, probably because I am not willing to put so much butter on my bread. If someone else does it for me, that’s another story. Ignorance is bliss, right?
But I ask myself, why have I never ordered a croque-madame (a croque-monsieur with a fried egg on top)? Is it the egg that’s stopping me (I love fried eggs) or is it just my comfort with familiarity?
Alas, I ate my very first croque-madame today. Though unconventional, (I skipped the butter and the béchamel sauce), my sandwich was still delicious! I used comté cheese instead of gruyere (just because that’s what we had in the fridge), and I even added fresh dill on top both for color and flavor. Croque-madame, you definitely put up a good fight against your male counterpart.
I absolutely love brioche, and I was craving one of these French breads today. So I decided to treat myself to a light and buttery brioche with some raspberry jam and a cup of warm tea.
Food Follower 