Restaurants: Serendipity 3, Peanut Butter Frozen Hot Chocolate and a Chicken Salad Sandwich

I hadn't been to Serendipity 3 in years. Back when I watched hours and hours of Food Network, I saw Rachael Ray had gone to get a frozen hot chocolate. I hated the woman then, but I couldn't deny that the drink looked good. During CMJ in 2005, my dear friend Michelle Jackson asked me to go to Serendipity with her. The restaurant was smart, they have a per person minimum aimed at tourists who just wanted dessert. The wait is ridiculously long if you don't have a reservation. Not worth it if you're in a hurry and have plans.

My cousin, Hannah DLV wanted to go get some frozen hot chocolate on her visit last month and I was relieved to find that she made a reservation. Good looking out, cousin!  She hilariously takes photos of her food, it must run in the family. This time around, I went for the peanut butter frozen hot chocolate. I think it tasted better than the original version.

For lunch, I ordered the chicken salad sandwich. It was nearly impossible to eat as a proper sandwich. I ended up eat most of the filling with a fork and taking a normal looking sandwich home after we were done! The salad itself was pretty bland and undersalted. I don't really like raisin bread but this could have been better if it was toasted.

 

All in all, if you like large servings and long hangouts with friends --this place is for you. I, on the other hand, wouldn't go here on my own accord. I need enthusiastic friends and family to encourage me to go. And I will, for the peanut butter frozen hot chocolate.

Video: Russ Chimes - Midnight Club EP Videos

Brilliant idea to release a 3 part music video for an EP. I found it pretty moving, you have to sit down and watch all 3! It's got a similar drama and drive as Kill Bill, but like, set on a beach. Doesn't hurt that Russ Chimes is effing great at making music.

Director: Saman Keshavarz ( samankeshavarz.blogspot.com)
Writers: Saman Keshavarz, Nate Eggert
Producers: Francis Pollara, Saman Keshavarz, Romson Niega
Associate Producers: Nate Eggert, Tom Lee
Cinematographer: Justin Gurnari
Editor: Nate Tam
Executive Producer: Lanette Phillips
Label: Eye Industries (eyeindustries.com/​blog)
Production Company: Mighty8 (mighty8.tv)
© Eye Industries Ltd 2010

Cooking: Steak, Eggs, Kale and Bacon

I just wanted a protein bomb. I missed the steak and eggs from Maggie Brown's. I marinated thin slices of pepper steak in a little salt, pepper, garlic and soy sauce. The egg was fried in bacon fat and the kale had been simmered in homemade broth.

Aw, too bad I didn't have any toast to sop up all that egg yolk!

 

 

Restaurants: Brick Cafe

Ah, Astoria. In my 4 years of New York City living, I've rarely ventured to our sister borough to the North. Now that I'm a periphery resident of teh Queens, I've no excuse! Brick Cafe was an adorable find for a weekend brunch. When you sit down you get a basket of bread and kalamata tapanade.

The smoked salmon sandwich with marscapone was simultaneously indulgent, cool and satisfying with a small handful of mixed greens dressed in balsamic vinegar.

The croque monsieur looked ok. Check out that weepy Gruyere!

 

Have you been?

Tweets This Week

• http://twitpic.com/2s1m16 @disasterpeace
• Found a tv show called #getripped , lol
• Sweaty and trying to will myself to do sit ups #getripped 
• Dreaming of wall decor. This one brings out the B-Girl: http://ow.ly/2JyVy
• Getting excited about the new single this fall, yo. Grab our first one for free off The Shortsleeves bandcamp. http://ow.ly/2JwG8 
• Bag of unwanted tshirts --> Rolled up + 2 nested pillowcases = new cushion for me to sit on while playing videogames. #marthawannabe 
• Unwanted socks = Dusters / Easy way to sweep the floor. #marthawannabe 
• I need to stop leaning my elbows on my legs, my iron deficiency makes me look like a dalmatian. #genetics 
  
• Catching up on my @sluttyfringe posts. Blackbird Blackbird vid is just what I needed today http://ow.ly/2JtO2 
• Guys - Do you like me on #FB? Plz say you willlllll http://ow.ly/2Jrnk #notbegging #askingnicely
• Breezy bike ride home, now to do sit ups on my BED ! #getripped 
• UR FAULT RT @bxchen: Facebook went down after a girl agreed to go on a date with me. It's an omen #dyingalone 
• My roommate's friend asked me for dating advice. Again, I should come with a warning label. #facepalm 
• Funny band names discovered today: You Slut! , Ef & The Samuel Jackson Five
• In very tiny print, of course. RT @acarboni: @bltidm Warning: contents mostly pork and whiskey.
• I should come with a warning label "CONTENTS UNDER HIGH PRESSURE"
• Bacon, frisee, homemade croutons and balsamic = Brkfst
• FUCK YEAH LE TIGRE
• WATCH OUT EVERYBODY, SHE HAS A DRILL #immadrillyou 
• @TCTD Yes, #hyptonite works. You #trendsetter 
• Just to make sure it's on record, I was referred to as "Hipster kryptonite" last night.
• Potato chip soft serve?!
• The Center for Hearing and Communication's newsletter is called THE BUZZ. #ayyyy #facepalm 
• The piano tuner is here but the piano hasn't arrived #poetry #metaphor4life

Memories from the Project Parlor BBQ Semi-Finals

Got a lot of old photos here! During the Summer bbq semi-finals, we recruited Facts N' Cheese cameraman Vance to help us with shopping at Costco. We naturally had $1.50 hot dogs before we tackled the groceries. 

 I got in trouble for taking this photo.

Everyone took turns grating the onion, it was tough.

All that grated onion went into our sliders!

Did you grab a slider at the bbq? What'd you think?

Facts N' Cheese Episode 17 - Baigura

Welcome to Facts n' Cheese! It's like Mac n' Cheese, but not! Join me on my awkward trek through cheeses of the world. In each episode, I'm joined by a friend and I make them eat cheese while I spout out all I know about a particular curd conglomeration. Special thanks to Jeff Stockton for designing our logo as well as Ryan Darrenkamp, Lisa Uhlman and Vance Spicer for their beer, house, camera equipment and editing!

Episode 17 features the Basque Baigura, my modern day hetero lifemate Angela Workoff and the song "Lawn Knives" by my good friend GOBBLE GOBBLE. You may recognize Angela from a lot of my recent food adventures and competitions at Project Parlor! Angela and I started a website called (For the) Love of the Band. We write music essays and our first round's prompt was "What was the band that made you love music?" You'll find out some interesting things about us and our lively group of friends. GOBBLE GOBBLE aka Cecil Frena is a long time favorite of mine and is a go to dance-party starter! Please take any opportunity to check him out if he' play's in a town near you!

More facts about Baigura:

•  Baigura is a Basque unpasteurized sheep's cheese named after a specific mountain in the Pyrenees range between France and Spain.
• Baigura has a rich, buttery, somewhat nutty flavor that becomes lightly fruity with age. It pairs well with apples or pears, prosciutto, and bold red wines such as a Bordeaux or Grenache.
• Watch out for "baigura fermier," which is an industrial version of another Pyrenees made cheese, Ossau-Iraty. The cheese you're looking for has a dry crumbly ash-like rind.
• We paired Baigura with culatello, which is a refined version of proscuitto as well as Italian for "little backside."

Restraurants: WD-50 Part 3

It was trip #2 to WD-50 and I was with Angela, Mo and Ramsey, my trusty cohorts from (For the) Love of the Band. If you haven't read our essays about the bands that have made us love music, you should!  Catch up on course 1 and course 2!

I can't believe I still had room for dessert. The next treat was my favorite flavor combination of the evening, perhaps also in the running for best thing I've ever eaten. Our dessert course amuse bouche was lychee sorbet in pistachio foam with celery paste at the bottom. It was palate cleanser unlike any other. Clean, cold, comforting and colorful tasting. 

 

I ordered the fresh Tristar strawberries with berry candy wire, fennel cake, marscapone and watermelon sorbet.

 

Angela got the "rainbow sherbet" made of plum, tarragon and rhubarb in a delicate tuille with olive oil cake.

 

At the end, our farewell bites were dark chocolate bonbons with condensed milk ice cream!

 

Angela and I were raving about the experience to a friend of ours and he offered a criticism that I sort of agreed with: a lot of dishes appear to start with a concept or strange molecular technique and dishes grow around it. The techniques sometimes take away from overall familiarity and consistency (that's the point) but the concept of what is familiarly cooked as "excellent" changes. It's unsettling that someone is playing with food this way and do we really need to dehydrate, gelatinaize, foam or sphericate when a piece of meat or vegetable can taste as spectacular from a pan? We don't need to, but we want to. Our experiences at WD-50 (both times) have been enjoyable and highly recommended.  I say you leave your picket signs and ideas of cuisine at the door; for every meal.

Restaurants: WD - 50 Part 2

It was trip #2 to WD-50 and I was with Angela, Mo and Ramsey, my trusty cohorts from (For the) Love of the Band. If you haven't read our essays about the bands that have made us love music, you should!  Catch up on the first course!

I readied myself for this meal all day. I had an early breakfast and allowed myself one snack smoothie at work. There was no way that I was taking home leftovers from this meal. It was all to be consumed and savored in one sitting (a feat, if you've ever eaten with me). Angela's main course was sous vide duck with Israeli couscous, compressed apple, shitake mushrooms and cheddar broth. I wasn't impressed by the duck, I'm a fan of crispy quackers. But the cheddar broth was something else! One rind from a used parmesan block is enough to transform a regular broth, how much cheese did they use for this potent soup?!

My main course was pork neck with wheat puffs, endive and an unidentifiable sauce. It looked like I was eating beef! Again with the meat magic! I housed this plate. Completely. It was gone.

Our server convinced us to get ONE fish dish, so we went for the Arctic Char. It also turned out to be the best main course out of all of them! It was arctic char, yucca, snow peas and dried fish skin.

Ooof, still with me? Stick around for dessert! We certainly did...

Restaurants: WD-50, Part 1

It was trip #2 to WD-50 and I was with Angela, Mo and Ramsey, my trusty cohorts from (For the) Love of the Band. If you haven't read our essays about the bands that have made us love music, you should! 

I had no fear of taking photos photos with my new droidy phone this time around (thx Ricardo!). Let's get to it, shall we? Our amuse bouche was noodles made of scallop with butternut squash paste, grape broth and toasted black sesame seeds. I hate scallops but this was a delight. They had a subtle flavoring of the sea and didn't creep me out like they usually do.  The thing that bothers me most about scallops is having to bite through such a squishy mass; mochi yields, scallops are a little tougher. In this case, however, it was a treat to break up the texture and paint it in a way that I could stomach. Did Wylie peel a scallop all around like how a hand crank peeler peels apples or was there meat glue involved or was a bunch of scallop pulp pressed into a sheet and run through a pasta cutter? I got questions, people!

Angela and I have a practice when we're dining out. We'll have big eyes about most of the menu and don't really hold back if we see something we like. We typically order our own things and then switch plates, it's economical considering that we were dropping a pretty penny to eat at WD-50. The next dish was foie gras, something that I've always wanted to try and was too afraid to order on sheer account of the price. What's all the protesting about, people? The dish that arrived was nothing short of spectacular. Aerated foie with pickled beets, crisp brioche crackers, fresh tarragon (I think) and eggplant jelly. I can't imagine working with such texture. Did he make a foie liquid base, put it into a whipped cream can, spray it into a pan and slice? Whatever Dusfresne did to gas up a goose liver, I applaud. You can protest all you want against foie gras, you tell me you hate the process after you eat this shizzle!

When you look at the next plate, you think of sliced deli ham. It's so pink and reminds me of elementary school: my untoasted wheat bread with ham and mayonnaise. Nope, it's veal brisket. Veal treated like beef and sliced paper thin with fried ricotta cheese balls, dehydrated olives and honeydew cubes.

 

And through the course of this meal, we were knoshing on the paper-thin sesame flatbread that was left on the table at the beginning of the meal. I could eat this stuff mindlessly for an eternity.

Stay tuned for the next course!

Cooking: Long Dong Sausage Broccoli Soup and a Toasted Garlic Knot

As part of my shopping binge at The Meat Hook, I was urged to pick up a spicy Long Dong sausage that they make in-house. It's got hot sauce, pork, cheesey bits and a whole lot of flavor!

I do this thing where I think I'm hungry at work and I go buy something. But when I take it back to my desk, I get a slew of emails and never end up eating the damn bag of food. This time, it was broccoli soup and garlic knots. At home, I sauteed the sausage and cut it into large lozenges (as Escoffier taught me, I typically called then "slanty pieces"). I cut the garlic knot into discs and toasted them. The hot oil oozing from the sausage was a great garnish to drip along with herby truffle oil.

I feel like such a mad scientist.

Tweets This Week

• Muhaha, guess who is seeing Dismemberment Plan in Januaryyyyyyy!!! #somuchwin
• CHIPOTLIRITAS
• "his sausage is marrying his pancakes!"
• Most hilarious quote from last night, "YOU HAVE TO PAY THE TOLL"
• Photo messed up yesterday. Take two: @Jukeboxtheghost http://twitpic.com/2p53nb
• Drink up buttercup http://twitpic.com/2p4s1z
• Italians Do It Do it Better!!! RT @sluttyfringe: I Wanna Dance With Somebody http://nblo.gs/7WQb8
• More photos from PAX! The last one make it look like @fort90 is in The Shortsleeves with us. http://ow.ly/2FtQ7
• Caesar frisee with double cut bacon, mmhrhmm.
• "Buttcup sugartits" is a good pet name as any. #schmoopy
• Surprisingly not winded after biking Ridgewood -> GreenPoint -> Willyburg -> Ridgewood #getripped
• 113.5 --> 110.5 in a week. Good thing I have this scale. #getripped
• Stretch, 15 min bike, [15 sit ups, 15 leg press, 15 arm curls] x 3, kick punching bag #getripped
• Pulled pork for breakfast, nbd.
• Eating in the dark at Morimoto.
• Whoa power out at Morimoto. Bartender jokes he never saw place fully lit.
• @ditzkoff I think of you as my little news cupcake. #yaynews
• Can you say, INTERNATIONAL ? RT @pulsewave: Save the date! PW is September 25. Get pumped, we've got some surprises for you !
• I love that my mom didn't care that I'm flipping the bird on #fb, but she pointed out that my shoes were too ratty. #shitmymomsays
• Finally on Bandcamp! http://theshortsleeves.bandcamp.com
• ~@~ ~@~ ~@~ ~@~ ~@~
• I sneezed and it sent a shockwave of soreness through my abs. #getripped #ouch
• Let's be sloths. I'll make the sandwiches.
• Eating amazing fig vinegar and soy mushroom marinated steak. Mmmmph!
• Oh hey, have you watched the newest ep of Facts N' Cheese? Feat. music by @activeknow http://ow.ly/2CFm5                       

Cooking: Bacon Cheeseburger Sausage with Squash and Ranch Ricotta

More treasures from the Meat Hook! Today, I decided to tackle the bacon cheeseburger sausage and farm fresh squash. I say "ambiguous squash" because this little critter was both yellow land green! Frankensquash!

I needed something to tie the meal together. Growing up, I ate Carl's Jr. deep fried zucchini with ranch dressing and it seems like a good flavor fit with bacon cheese burger. Instead, I made ranch flavored ricotta cheese. Like the detective that I am, I went to the grocery store and read the ingredients of dried Ranch dressing mix. Onion powder, garlic powder and M to the S to the G? May as well be authentic! I got a bag of monosodium glutamate for 75 cents in Sunset Park. Oh come on, you're not surprised that it's in my pantry. Look at those danger crystals and dried chives waiting to be stirred into the cheese:

After I grilled the sausage and squash, I piled them onto my little scoop of ranch ricotta. It was cleaner than ranch dressing and probably not as bad for me (who knows?!).

Cooking Jam:

Shops: The Meat Hook

The Meat Hook is a compendium of do it yourself cookery in Brooklyn.  You can take classes and like my favorite artisanal shops, you can ask your butcher questions. They know what's up. I was initially eying the giant marrow bones but realized that my oven wasn't yet working in my new apartment. Instead, I opted for a hefty lot of house-made sausages. Ben, who was the counterman that helped me, suggested the Long Dog Bud sausage after I picked out the bacon cheeseburger, bahn mi, taco and french onion dogs.

Bakery: Dessert Club

Craving some dessert in the East Village, I headed over to Chickalicious. The little dessert bar was closed and a sign said to visit Dessert Club across the street.  Here's a sampling of their bread pudding, ice cream eclair and ice cream macaron. Everything looked amazing but the ice cream desserts were nearly impossible to eat without making a mess and the bread pudding wasn't anything spectacular. Anyone else been here?

Things I ate last month

I was really really lazy and craved a Philly cheesesteak with nacho cheese. Instead, I fried up 2 minute steaks and dipped them in canned nacho cheese. Yup, breakfast.

I could never get soft boiled eggs right. Determination! I vaguely remember reading that you should boil eggs for about 4 minutes. I need to be more delicate with my peeling but I did it. Sort of. I broke one. Cracked grains of paradise and coriander onto my steaming little egg feti with crispy thick cut bacon.

Piece of Chicken has closed. No more banana pudding. No more fried chicken livers. Worst of all, no more $1 pieces of chicken! I really missed that dirty oil smell wafting into my office. I went searching for chicken on 9th avenue and found a nondescript grill. I got a half chicken with pita, macaroni and beans for $10.25. The chicken was great and had garlicky skin. My co-worker saw the giant box of food at my desk and asked me what was wrong. I said it was heartbreak. #RIPpieceochkn

Restaurants: Kif

Kif is not only my favorite chracter on Futurama, but it's also a cute French-Moroccan restaurant in Ft. Greene.  I first visited the place for mimosas after the Big Apple Tweed ride. I decided to try it out for brunch.  The interior of the restaurant is very cute and the basement space extends to a pretty backyard patio. However, the potatoes were plain, the eggs fluffy but unspecial and the greens undressed.

I was really excited to eat the merguez sausages but they were served with a cold tomato sauce.

The vegetable cigars with goat cheese were really good. I even started to dip my sausage into the lemony goat cheese sauce.

Restaurants: Rose and Thistle (Portland, OR)

Nothing like filling pub food to go with locally brewed beer on a sunny afternoon. Rose and Thistle Pub has a quiet backyard deck and umbrellas for maximum chilling. I slouched into a booth bench and enjoyed a glass of red ale while we waited for our food. Paul L. got the gigantic burger with bacon and cheese:

I got a hearty beef stew with carrots, potatoes and toast:

My favorite of the dishes was Paul O's pasta with mushrooms, peas, cream sauce and sausage. It was perfectly seasoned with salt and cheese. It wasn't too garlicy or heavy. It was one of those dishes I could eat all day and dip my bread into. Our server was really rad too, wish I could remember her name.

Restaurants: Kenny and Zuke's (Portland, OR)

When I saw Kenny and Zuke's pastrami fries on Serious Eats, I knew what my mission was in life. It was to consume that glorious plate of meat, cheese and potato the next time I went to Portland. As luck would have it, I was on my way to Portland to record some music with The Shortsleeves.

Nestled in Portland's downtown proper, Kenny and Zukes is a wide open restaurant and deli counter. What a menu ! The pastrami fries weren't the only thing I wanted on there. I started our table off with the house made pickle plate of cukes, olives, cauliflower, onions, capers and carrots. Everything was a little spicy and acidic, just the way I like 'em.

 Paul L. got the pastrami hot dog:

Asif for the pastrami sandwich:

Paul got a side of macaroni because he was charged with helping me finish my monster plate of pastrami fries:

I watched the cook prepare the plate and he stuck it under the leaping flames of the salamander until the cheese was gooey and running through the pile of fries. We could only get through 2/3 of the plate, we took it home and fed it to our sound man Gabe, haha.

Tweets this Week

• Let's be sloths. I'll make the sandwiches.
• Eating amazing fig vinegar and soy mushroom marinated steak. Mmmmph!
• Got iced again. F.
• Oh hey, have you watched the newest ep of Facts N' Cheese? Feat. music by @activeknow http://ow.ly/2CFm5 
• @DaPantzBX Biked 10 miles, stretch, 45 sit ups, three 15 rep leg presses, 100 crunches, stretch, kick the air and pass out. #getripped
• Look at Gilroy working his ish! ttp://twitpic.com/2n87oe
• Maybe I'll spend my Friday night working out.
• Got lost in Jackson Heights two years ago. Feels strange to come here on purpose.
• Not exactly fruit punch material but I'm trying: http://drummachinedatingservice.info 
• If I find my jacuzzi filled with couscous, I know who to blame. Jacouscous. F that.
• Pistachio foam, lychee sorbet, celery paste! Holy swizzle sticks!
• My pearl necklace died in the middle of dinner last night. Sad.
• @jromulo "Intern, get me a Campari, will you?" http://ow.ly/2BNqg 
• @tinycartridge Hey ! That's my #Pax lanyard :D http://twitpic.com/2kovwu 
• Hi friends, I got a new phone! Plz txt with your full name! Besos 2 @DaPantzBX !
• I better get fruit punch tomorrow. I can't put down this ukelele.
• Junk food and Ray Charles before bed. So much win.
• Midnight meat train moment alone in an empty car. Got my ds to keep me sane.
• Doing this @formspring thingy. Pretend I'm avoiding eye contact, that'll be realistic http://formspring.me/jenndlv 
• Photo: Why are you guys friends with this idiot? (Also, I just got a DSi). http://tumblr.com/xffhxs6hm 
• I feel like a my head is in a vice. http://ow.ly/2AGio 
• Crif dawgs w the chip broz. #cnbftw

Restaurants: Voo Doo Doughnuts (Portland, OR)

Pretty much everyone in Portland told me to check out Voo Doo Doughnuts. Crazy flavored donuts? I'm in! Gabe was pretty excited to taste the maple bacon bar. I couldn't stop clapping my hands when we drove into the parking lot. Squee ! Look at how many kinds there are!!

You'd be shocked to find out that I didn't really like the bacon donut. I know, it's a tragedy. I'm just not a big fan of syrups or maple flavors. I wanted the Arnold Palmer to be more pronounced, all I can say that it didn't suck and wasn't amazing.

The grape donut tasted pleasantly of Dimetap (that's a compliment, I loved that flavor).

And my favorite from our donut binge was the Butterfinger cake donut! I hid the other half of this so I could eat it on the plane back to New York. Smell ya later, Portland!

Cooking: The Portland Spread with 5 Spice Beef Ribs, Miso Slaw and Sriracha Macaroni and Cheese

Don't you think for one minute that we just gnawed on sloppy beef ribs by themselves. Noooo, Asif and I made sure that the 2 Player household would be fed for at least 3 days. I made miso slaw by shredding 2 heads of cabbage and tossing the threads in a mixture of olive oil, miso paste, chopped garlic and olive oil. The pretty bowl was finished with black sesame seeds:

Here, Asif puts the finishing touches on his sriracha macaroni and cheese:

Everything turned out so pretty and it tasted great, too!

And here's my dinner plate:

Special thanks to Paul Levering, Paul Owens, Gabe Liberti and the honorable Asif Siddiky for their hospitality (and for letting me dirty their kitchen)!

CELEBRATION JAM: