about
about me.
i'm kelly.
26 year old stressbaker.
about-to-graduate grad school.
new england transplant.
eating through philly & the burbs.
baking my way into the hearts of friends.
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Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 7:20 PM
eating Manhattan: a day in food and kitchen design.
It pays to have friends all over the place. It's even better when they're foodies. Two weeks ago, I ventured to NYC with my friend Chelsea. We had a vague idea of what we wanted to do when we booked our bus tickets, but nothing was set in stone. A few days before we left, I messaged my friend Michael who lives in Brooklyn asking if he'd be around and if he had any suggestions of places to eat. I expected a quick reply with a semi-famous restaurant to try or a local bakery or two. What I got back was a detailed, organized list of places to try, spanning different courses and cuisines from cupcakes to Milkshakes to Venezuelan and menu suggestions and specialties for each establishment. Had we been blessed with more time and super-rapid metabolisms, we would have tried them all. Instead, we picked a few and centered our day around eating. (Welcome to traveling with Kelly...)
Our first stop was Shopsin's, a tiny eatery located within the Essex Street market.
Don't let the size fool you. Even though they only have a few tables, their menu is EXTENSIVE.
Creamy mac n cheese meets fluffy corn pancakes.
I wasn't sure I'd like them, so I didn't order them. Chelsea let me have a bite of hers and boy was I surprised! The textures and flavors meshed so perfectly that I couldn't believe I had ever doubted them. It was like mac n cheese and pancakes were meant to be together in breakfast bliss. Now if only I knew how to make them...
I went with Michael's recommendation of Blisters on My Sister: a skillet dressed in corn tortillas smothered in black beans and kidney beans and greens, topped with sunny side up eggs. A mix of melted cheeses coats the whole thing, marrying all the components together, making for one delicious Tex-Mex breakfast.
Of course the other part of being a tourist is that you can never take your leftovers with you, so I was forced to eat the whole thing (not that I'm complaining).
Normally, I like to walk off a breakfast like that before attempting to eat again, but my food plan for the day led us right around the corner to Sugar Sweet Sunshine, a bakery that brought all three words into my life.
I went with pistachio.
They have a whole case of tantalizing trifles, but I had heard promise of better-than-Magnolia cupcakes and I would not let even the most perfect pudding detract me from my goal. I spotted pumpkin cupcakes in the case and normally I'd partake in the seasonal sweet, but I wanted a rare flavor that I couldn't get at every cupcake shop in town.
I went with pistachio.
A slightly dense cake with a hint of green color and just enough pistachio flavor. The frosting was perfect silky meringue buttercream with a light flavor to compliment the cake beneath it and the whole thing was topped with a dusting of pistachio crumbs. Perfection.
We picked up some banana pudding to go to bring over to my friend at work to say thank you (he was very appreciative!) before heading over to the MoMA for their exhibit on kitchen design and women's liberation.
The exhibit was fantastic. As someone who values counter space more than any designer handbag, I have to say that this was worth the entire trip! It told the story of kitchen design after World War I through a socio-political-historical lens. It also featured kitchen appliances through the years (my gadget-collecting self was in heaven!) and art featuring cooking, food and kitchens.
Our last stop of the day was Grand Central Station. By the time we got out of the MoMA, it was pouring rain and we were tired, cold and wet. We headed into the food court for some chili and cornbread.
Our last stop of the day was Grand Central Station. By the time we got out of the MoMA, it was pouring rain and we were tired, cold and wet. We headed into the food court for some chili and cornbread.
After paying for my food, I turned to find a place to sit and was confronted with a line of people standing in front of Magnolia Bakery. Call me greedy, but I couldn't resist. I've never had one and the reputation was too big to pass up the chance at having one.
I went for red velvet and while I'd like to say that these lived up to their reputation, I'd be lying if I did. I didn't get to try my cupcake because the day ended in tragedy.
Rainy city meant wet bag and that wet bag didn't hold up to the weight of my cupcake. The box fell out somewhere between 31st and 38th and I was cupcake-less and out $3.75. [womp womp]
Labels: banana, breakfast, chili, cornbread, cupcakes, eggs, Mexican, NYC, pistachio
2 Comments:
this post makes me so happy. knowing you got to try shopsin's is fulfilling on some deep personal level. and it looks like you had a blast.
also fulfilling? that banana pudding your brought me. good lord kelly, you reignited an old addiction.
let me know the next time you're coming up this way, and we'll partake in all the foodie offerings bklyn has to offer.
By 
, at
October 28, 2010 at 8:44 PM
haha I would go back just to try the banana pudding! I'm glad you enjoyed. Thank you again for all the recommendations. I mean the MoMA was great and all, but the food shaped the whole trip!
I will definitely make another trip. I've been scoping out the brooklynauts site (when my gmail told me who commented, I had no idea who it was until I read your comment). Today I got an overwhelming craving for apple pie and your award-winning butter bourbon apple pie (btw that's like combining so many of my favorite things into one recipe) has only made this craving worse. Pie crust from scratch is on my baking fears to conquer list, so I think it's fate that you commented and I read your post.
I love having foodie friends. It makes my little heart so happy (and my stomach too, though mostly vicariously).
By 
kelly, at
October 29, 2010 at 7:05 PM
Saturday, August 14, 2010 @ 3:58 PM
what's for dinner
Blackened chicken corn enchiladas smothered in salsa verde and low-fat Mexican blend cheese with a side of corn, red onion, tomato and orange pepper salsa tossed with cilantro and lime juice. (It was my first time using the broiler of an electric oven, so I underestimated how long to let the cheese bubble).
I'm less confident about cooking than baking, but this came out surprisingly well for not using a recipe :)
Labels: corn, enchiladas, Mexican, salsa
0 Comments:
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 @ 6:53 PM
dinner at Steve's
When I was in Ireland eating two meals out a day, I longed for a good old fashioned home cooked meal. I was staying with a family, so every morning at breakfast, I was taunted by the stove and the refrigerator. After the first week or so, I craved simple things--a hamburger on the grill, a vegetarian omlette, french toast. As the weeks went on, my desires were far more extravagant. I wanted multiple courses. I wanted complex flavor profiles. I wanted food pairings. I wanted accoutrements. When I was bemoaning my diet of sandwiches, one person's cooking came to mind: my friend Steve's.
Eating at Steve's is an experience. He's an excellent chef and makes cooking a three or four course meal look as easy as getting the mail. Whenever I walk into his apartment, the aroma of whatever divinely inspired creation he's been cooking all evening wafts towards me to welcome me to his abode. Monday was no exception. On the menu? A pork shoulder marinaded in a roasted pepper, cilantro and lime rub, slow cooked for hours over a simmering bed of hearty black beans served with a side of spicy Mexican rice, corn on the cob, guacamole, Mexican cheese, salsa and sour cream. Cielo. Absolute heaven. The pork was so tender it practically fell apart. The beans were smokey with a hint of spice. At Steve's suggestion I tried slathering my corn on the cob with guacamole and I wasn't disappointed. As someone who takes their corn off the cob (I had braces in high school and it became a habit), I was swayed back to the cob by the mingling of sweet corn with buttery avacado. Perfect.
For dessert, I made a variation on dobos (a Hungarian torte) from Tartelette--vanilla raspberry dobos. It wasn't nearly as pretty as hers (seriously, hers is beautiful, go look at it!), but given that I nearly forgot to put flour in the sponge cake before I baked it, I was happy with the result--layers of vanilla bean sponge cake surrounding light honey mascarpone mousse with a few raspberries in between and then surrounded by vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. It was like eating a cloud--sweet and soft and pillowy, but not too rich. The raspberries added a nice surprise tartness to cut through the soft flavors.
Needless to say, I was still full this morning.
sure, they're not the most beautiful things I've ever made, but they tasted delicious, so I suppose that's all that matters.
and if all else fails, you can just cover them in buttercream :)
Labels: dobos, eating with friends, friends cooking for me, Hungarian, Mexican, pork
0 Comments:
Sunday, May 30, 2010 @ 8:43 PM
PBC ftw! [and more Mexican]
This past Saturday I met my friend Maddie in Kensington and we went on a tour of the Philadelphia Brewing Company. The staff was incredibly friendly, the entire tour was free (we taste-tested two seasonals and three of their standard offerings) and it was highly informative. I got the sense from our guide that the employees are invested in both the beer they brew (and making that beer the best-tasting brew possible) and the company they work for. I love hearing people talk about their passions and, from listening to the staff, I could tell they love what they do.
After our trip to the brewery, we decided to poke around Fishtown and take a walk through Northern Liberties to check out our lunch options. We eventually decided on Dos Segundos Cantina for brunch. We sat outside in the sunshine--it was a perfect day to catch up and to peoplewatch (and dog watch... there were at least 4 adorable dogs that paraded past).
My friend is a vegetarian, and luckily they have numerous vegetarian and vegan options. She ordered the huevos a la Mexicana (eggs scrambled with jalapeno, red onion, tomato and cilantro served with black beans, Mexican rice and tortillas)
I was in the mood for something sweet [surprise!] and ordered the torrejas - doughy french toast (made from the same dough as sopapillas, only fried once instead of twice) smothered in a cinnamon citrus brown sugar reduction and then topped with mixed fresh berries and whipped cream. oh my word.
The next time I check out Dos Segundos for brunch, I'll be sure to try one of their mimosas - they have everything from blood orange to passion fruit, pricky pear, pineapple, guava, raspberry and traditional orange.
To check out the PBC tour (or to find out more about the company and their delicious beer offerings), visit their website or stop by on Saturday for a tour (tours run between noon and 3pm on Saturdays)!
2423-39 Amber St.
Philadelphia, PA 19125
(215) 427-BREW (2739)
if you're craving Mexican, check out Dos Segundos:
931 North 2nd StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19123-2326
(215) 629-0500
Labels: beer, breweries, eggs, french toast, Mexican
0 Comments:
@ 4:18 PM
It certainly pays to have friends who can make Mexican.
[mmm enchiladas]
Labels: enchiladas, friends cooking for me, Mexican