My Favorites of 2008

As this year comes to a close, I figured it'd be a good time to reflect on a few of my favorite things. (I can see you jumping out of your seat, yelling and crying with joy. Yes, it's Neha's favorite things entry!) Now, calm down and compose yourself. Since this is not Oprah, you won't be getting anything for free. However, if you are in the neighborhood of any of these restaurants, do yourself a favor and go--it's worth it!

Food Related:

Favorite dessert: Chocolate Mousse from Payard. Love, love love Payard. Love it.

Favorite alcoholic drink: Pomegranate Margarita (frozen, with salt) from Canyon Road (This is the only time Ash may have to hold my hand when we're walking home. Those suckers are deceivingly strong. And if you don't know already, I have self-control issues when good food is involved.)

Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity

Favorite frozen yogurt: Half coffee/ Half chocolate from Forty Carrots at Bloomingdale's

Favorite ice cream: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae from Friendly's (if you haven't tried Friendly's peanut butter sauce, you're missing out. I buy it by the pint when I go home. No joke.)

Favorite burger: 'Shroom Burger from Shake Shack

Favorite Mexican restaurant: Canyon Road, though the best mexican meal I've had this year was at a restaurant in Scottsdale that our friends took us to. La Cantina Laredo. (Thanks Ashish!)

Favorite Thai restaurant: Land (Nothing amazing, but a good won't-break-the-bank option.)

Favorite Italian restaurant: Pass. Haven't found one I am totally in love with. To be honest, I'm still a sucker for the salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden. And their fettucini alfredo is good too. So there. (Ash and I are trying a new place for dinner tonight--I'm keeping my fingers crossed!)

Favorite Pizza: Thin Crust- Posto; Regular- Two Boots. I also enjoy John's before a Broadway show. So shoot me for choosing three spots--NYC has good pizza. Ooh, and for size, Koronet. Okay, four spots.

Favorite Indian restaurant: It's a tie between Amma and Tamarind. (NOT the chain Tamarind--the single one on East 22nd St. The chain one is blah.) Or Vatan for the full dining experience. Hey, it's my list, I can do whatever I want.

Favorite Chain restaurant: PF Chang's (though the Olive Garden is a close second)

Not Food Related:

Favorite TV Show: How I Met Your Mother -- it is legen...wait for it...dary. (Yes, I know it's not a "new" tv show, but it's the first time I watched it. Absolutely hysterical. Ash and I laugh about things from that show for days.)

Favorite Movie: I didn't see a whole lot of movies this year, but Slumdog Millionaire probably clinches it for me. (Ash would root for The Dark Knight)

Favorite Event: Priya & Vinny's Wedding--the whole week long she-bang! (If you missed it, you can catch up on my old blog, located here.)

Favorite New Thing: A tie between two equally exciting things. Number one- Merrell shoes. I will never buy another brand. Ever. It's like I'm walking on air. (Everyone at work knows--I haven't taken my snow boots off for two weeks. My heels are still in my drawer.) Number two- fiber. (stop laughing!) Seriously, has changed my life. Everyone should eat more fiber--fiber rocks. Fiber One cereal--awesome. (Don't you dare give me that look--there are SO many more health benefits than just what is on your mind...)

Favorite Book: Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest To Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass LookBig, Or Why Pie is Not The Answer by Jen Lancaster (I actually loved the entire series, but this one was my favorite. I wrote a blog entry on them a short while ago-- click here if you missed it.) This leads right into...

Favorite Blog: Jennsylvania (Jen Lancaster's Blog) So, so funny. It always makes me laugh out loud.

Favorite Single Moment: Sitting on the couch with Ash, watching Obama give his acceptance speech. In one single moment, I felt hope, pride, relief and joy. Looking back, it still feels somewhat surreal.

Well, that's all.
::Lifting glass filled with Moscato D'Asti because I don't like champagne::
Here's to looking forward to 2009--hopefully it'll be a year filled with new experiences, new restaurants, and a new customized template for my blog. (Dan--help!!)

Cheers!

I'm on a mission!

I am now obsessed with the Choco-Pops Dark Hot Chocolate at Max Brenner. Ob-sessed. If you've never had it, you should run, don't walk, to Union Square and try it. It's your choice of hot chocolate (milk, dark or white) with these little crunchy "chocolate waffle" balls. Amazingly, the balls don't melt! I tried to figure out how to make them, but everything I come up with, in theory, either still melts the minute it's heated, or is WAY too messy to even try. I've asked at the gift shop, they don't sell them. Since they sell just about everything they make, I'm not convinced that they make them in-house.

Then, last night Ash and I went to Shake Shack on the UWS. (Priya was correct--their 'Shroom Burger is probably the best vegetarian burger I've ever eaten...and I don't even like mushrooms.) I ordered a Concrete (frozen custard with mix-ins) with a vanilla base, and then peanut butter sauce, hot fudge and Valhrona chocolate crunchies. (Awesome, if I do say so myself.) As I was eating it, I realized that they look eerily similar to the "waffle balls" Max Brenner puts in the hot chocolate and on desserts. After googling them (I already told you I was obsessed), I've found that they are actually called "Valhrona Crunchy Chocolate Pearls." I then gawked at the $9 shipping I would be charged to order the smallest amount, and closed the window.

A few minutes later, I re-googled and ordered them. I'll keep you posted.

Creamy Tomato Soup

It's been freezing lately. And I don't mean to-be-expected-in-December freezing, but holy-crap-cover-every-inch-of-your-skin freezing. I am a big fan of soup as it is, and the cold weather was a perfect opportunity to play around with my immersion blender. I was craving a homemade creamy tomato soup that wouldn't take an hour to simmer (Ash is working nights--we don't have that kind of time right now) like most of my other soups, so I hit the internet to see what I could find. I REALLY wanted to eat it in a big bread bowl, but the store was all out of any kind of bowl-worthy bread. (Apparently I was not the only one craving soup in a bread bowl.)

I am always hesitant with using canned tomatoes in soup, as I am convinced that sometimes they taste like tin. However, the tomatoes in the grocery store looked like they had seen better days, so I didn't have much of a choice. (And I'll be honest--it actually worked out just fine!) I wanted a recipe with everyday ingredients (the whole herbs in kitchen twine thing is fun and all, but only on special occasions when I'm not super lazy), and something super easy. Below is what I ended up doing...

Creamy Tomato Soup (with an Immersion Blender)

1 large can crushed tomatoes
8 basil leaves, chopped (some extra to garnish, if you want)
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons butter (I've tried olive oil before...not as good, but not bad)
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
About 12 oz. of vegetable stock
Approximately 1/3 cup of heavy cream (you could probably do milk and thicken with cornstarch or flour, but I didn't try that--I wanted a TRULY creamy soup)
Pinch of sugar
Salt and black pepper to taste

Saute the onions and garlic in 1 tbsp. butter. When translucent, add the bay leaves, crushed tomatoes and vegetable stock. After it boils, remove from heat, remove the bay leaves (if you used dried ones) and and use an immersion blender to blend until there are no large lumps left (about 1 minute). Return to heat, and when it returns to a boil, add the the fresh basil, the remaining 2 tbsp. of butter, the heavy cream, pinch of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. (I also threw in some italian seasoning, but I am a bit heavy handed with the spices.) You can also add more stock if you prefer a thinner soup--I left this one thick so it was more of a tomato bisque.

When serving it, I grated in some fresh parmesan cheese, threw in a few more pieces of basil and served it with croutons. The whole process probably took about 30 minutes, and Ash gave it two thumbs up! :-) (If I had thought of it at the time, I would've taken a picture...oops!)

Apparently the sugar is supposed to cut the acidity of the canned tomatoes, but I just ended up adding more salt. So, over to you if you want to add it or not. I'll probably omit it when I make it again.

If you don't have an immersion blender, seriously, don't use this recipe. You can probably wait for the whole thing to cool a bit, then place it in a regular blender, then throw it back into the pot, but that's a whole lot of trouble. I love my immersion blender--it turns anything into a nice soup in about 2 minutes flat, so if you love soup, I highly recommend one. (Though you'll be on a smoothie and soup kick for the next month--you've been warned.)

Enjoy!

Why you should go to Las Vegas

Yes, I know I haven't posted in a while--November was a busy month. We had some friends visiting us from Chicago, it was Ash's birthday, and we went on vacation. We visited Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas.

Now, some people go to Las Vegas to gamble...we go to Las Vegas to, well, eat. If you're ever in that city, be SURE to drop by the Bellagio and visit the Jean Philippe Patisserie. After reading a bit in the restaurant, I found out that Jean Philippe was actually rated the best pastry chef in France! Aside from housing the largest chocolate fountain in the world, they have the most amazing crepes you'll ever eat. Mine was the "Chocolate Crepe"--a crepe with chunks of brownie, dark chocolate sauce, whipped cream and chocolate shavings. I believe I got it 3 times during our 4 day stay in Las Vegas. Ash got a custom crepe with strawberries, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. The pictures are below. (Yes, Ash couldn't wait to take a bite before I took the picture...)

I am going to work on finding a way to make them, but first I need a really good recipe for chocolate sauce. They sell the Jean Philippe one, but the whole no-liquids-in-your-carry-on really screwed me up. I'll keep you posted.