Nina C.

I'm still in the midst of uploading pictures, so I'll have to tease a little more until tomorrow. Here's what I saw, ate, or bought today: tacos al pastor tripe more kielbasa bahn mi pan dulce hundreds of fruits and vegetables pig trotters pork buns preserved lemons, litchee milkshake, and

What a day! I have dozens of pictures to show you from my food adventures, but first I want to get dinner started. Here's a teaser pic of all the things I bought today:

Who hasn't done that at one time or another? Have your breakfast before you go to bed, it becomes tomorrow-guy's problem, not hungry-tonight-guy's problem. BTW, If Bedford-Stuyvesant can be "Bed-Stuy" I think goat roti can be "goti". ← Goti! I love it. (If anyone's wondering, I know the old Dutch town names can be difficult. It's pronounced Bed-ford Sty (like a pig sty) ves ant)

Good morning! No breakfast for me as I stayed up too late working, and now I just don't have any appetite. But I'm planning to go do a makeup shift at my food coop, and then have some foodie adventures afterwards. So right now I'm trying to finish some work, get my act together, make a grocery list, and get out of the house! But first, dinner from last night, quickly. Posting all those Greenpoint pictures took me so long that I was starving, but I still wanted to show you something interesting. As I mentioned before, the next neighborhood to the east is Bedford-Stuyvesant, aka Bed-Stuy. The area had a terrible reputation as a place of crime and race riots, but like many places in NY the reputation only tells a fraction of the story. The other side is friendly faces, true neighborhoods with a sense of community, gorgeous brownstones, and sizeable African and West Indian immigrant communities. Crime has decreased significantly, and gentrification is on the rise. I wish I could have shown you more of Bed-Stuy, especially the more attractive parts, but my stomach was growling, and I was on a mission to get home before Dancing with the Stars ended. (Truth in foodblogs, right?) From my house, I walked east along Fulton, a gritty commercial street currently being torn to pieces for new water mains and other infrastructure. This is also where you'll find many of the steam table spots, which serve a variety of generally tasty West Indian and African foods. Almost all of them are Halal (meaning they follow Islamic dietary laws about how meats are slaughtered, and don't sell pork, certain seafood or certain birds) The corner stores sell huge amounts of spices, along with more typical convenience foods: (I realize now I should have had included something for scale. Each of the bags pictured is around a pound - further down were 2 and 3 lb bags but I got yelled at for taking pictures before I could snap them.) to cook with your huge amounts of meat: But I was going a little bit farther, to Trinidad Ali's roti shop. This mini-chain is fast and friendly, and serves all the important food groups: by which I mean doubles, pholourie, and rotis. Like many of my food adventures, I'm still on the learning path. I don't profess to know everything about this food, but I do know what tastes good! Doubles are a classic Trinidadian street food. A piece of pillowy fried bread is folded around a thick curried chickpea filling. Pholourie are more fried dough - this time a split pea dough rolled into little balls, fried, and then covered in a sweet mango chutney. and Roti - a giant burrito-like sandwich with a whole wheat bread wrapped around a curried filling. (roti in the front, doubles in the back. A little bag of pholourie is peeking in from the side. sadly I didn't get a good picture of pholourie - they disappeared too fast!) Inside of roti: Inside of doubles: I made several ordering mistakes tonight. Before I've had the boneless chicken curry roti, but tonight I thought, "It's for eGullet! They'll want to see goat! Goat tastes gooooood." I forgot about how many bones goat has. Which meant I basically had to deconstruct the whole roti, and stop every five seconds to extract a piece of bone. The goat was earthy and rich, as you expect goat to be, but I think I'll go back to chicken. Or just order two doubles, because the combination of soft pillowy bread and slightly spicy filling is really hard to beat. Even with a goat. Then I didn't tear into it as soon as it was presented to me. But I needed to take pictures, and it seemed easier to do that at home than the restaurant. All the food suffered for it. But it was still hearty and satisfying, and convenient to eat while watching:

aha! http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...n=&pagewanted=1

There are at least 3 other meat markets I know of in Greenpoint. What I wouldn't give for one of them to be closer to me! For Charcuterie, you'd probably want me to go to Bay Ridge which is not a bad idea. I'll see if that makes more sense than Bensonhurst. I don't think too many people are making pastrami these days. Ed Levine wrote an article about the pastrami hunt a few years ago. Let me see if I can track it down.

I worry I've posted so many pictures that I've stunned you all into silence! I know I've got to go find some dinner. I wish I had those brilliant sausages to munch on now, but unfortunately, all of those pictures were from the first week of my foodblog, and all got consumed at the brunch I threw. So dinner, and then I'll come back and answer any questions you might have. I also need thoughts from you all on whether you'd rather see Sunset Park (Mexican and Chinese) Brighton Beach (Russian and Pan Asian) Bensonhurst (Italian) And, I'm looking for suggestions on what to make for dinner on Friday night! So far I'm thinking a heavily spiced chicken or pork dish that's comforting and rich.

Don't leave Greenpoint without visiting Steve's Meat Market, if only for the sight of cute men (far too young for you) wearing old-fashioned hats. Their selection is huge, and the meats are top-rate but it is often too crowded to think in here. Each one of the five men behind the counter is helping a different customer, a few others are waiting to be served, and everyone (including the strange girl taking pictures) is jostling to get a view of the goods. I always have to get some of their fresh roasted bacon. It's less smoky than traditional bacon, but you can slice it and eat it like a cold cut, unlike seared pork belly. My words are failing me (probably at least in part because it's almost 8 and I haven't even started to think about dinner yet), but trust me that you need to try some. Here's my total meat haul - the big kielbasa and the long skinny sausage I bought at Sikorski, and the fresh bacon and different long skinny sausage I bought at Steve's.

Before you venture on in search of more meat, take a detour a few steps down Manhattan Avenue to the New Warsaw Bakery. (585 Manhattan Ave.) Pause a minute to drink in the thick heady air, then buy fresh rye bread that's straight out of the oven. It's often still warm and you can take it straight home for a bit of pocket change. But I giggle with childish glee when watching the vibrating automatic slicer do its thing: (A cute little old lady sells it to you, but she didn't want to have her picture taken!) If you don't happen to find them open, most of the nearby stores and butchers sell their bread. But when you can get so much joy (and stand in that warm bready air), why not buy it at the source?

I still haven't decided which place deserves the honor of being crowned "Best Greenpoint Butcher" but I'm certainly having fun doing the background research. Currently I have two favorites. Sikorski 603 Manhattan Avenue (between Nassau and Driggs) When you don't speak the language, sometimes you want a place that's a little less crowded, whose pace is slower, giving you time to poke and ponder, ask too many questions and receive more than a few tasty samples. Sikorski is that place. Every other time I've been in here, each hook above the counter has had a fat sausage hanging from it. Today, a forlorn sight greeted me: (Apologies for the blurriness. The empty rack must have startled me.) They sell everything from kielbasa to stuffed cabbage, freshly smoked and roasted pork, to "regular" cold cuts. Since I was buying for a brunch, I just got a kielbasa, and half a long-skinny sausage. (After I determine which butcher is the best, the next phase of my research involves learning all the names. I know, its ignorant of me to not know them already.) The skinny one is slightly drier, with a stronger flavor of garlic, caraway and spice. Its size makes it perfect for nibbling on the train. Now I know why all the old men smell like garlic. Remember those intoxicating smells I warned you about? They prevented me from remembering how much I paid. But for meats that could easily feed 6-8 people, it was hardly much. Less than $10, certainly.

After you buy your fish, wrap it well and make your way over to the kielbasa section of town, aka the intersection of Manhattan and Nassau Avenues. Along the way, you might want to stop at the candy store, Stodyce Wedel, at the corner of Manhattan and Meserole Avenues. If you don't speak Polish or Czech, you'll have to take a bit of a risk here, deciphering pictures and ingredient lists to figure out what's in a candy. The saleslady will help you, but beware of a sullen sigh, likely caused by having to help too many intrigued visitors interpret endless packages. Or just enjoy the scenery of old-fashioned shops and bundled up people Stop at one of the many corner markets, each with bountiful displays of fruit outside. Only in New York: If you didn't already grab horseradish, cream cheese, farmer cheese, red onion, lemon or any other condiments you'll need, get them now, before we get to the sausages. The distracting smell of yummy meaty goodness might just make you forget something.

"We've got a new sushi place around the corner from our apartment!" my friend excitedly tells me. "I don't even like sushi that much, but Mark says we've got to patronize it so it'll attract other restaurants to Greenpoint." I want to protest, to say that her neighborhood is full of interesting and good restaurants that she's barely noticed, much less tried. But I don't. It won't do any good - the hearty meats of Polish cooking hold little appeal for her, a vegetarian with dreams of a svelte figure. And though that's of course not all that's served in Polish restaurants, non-English menus leave her with a fear of unseen meat lurking in every dish. The northern Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint has been a Polish stronghold since the turn of 20th century. Certainly there are many other ethnicities in this polyglot area, but continued and concentrated Polish immigration has rejuvenated the population. There are now an estimated 38,000 Poles in this area, one of the largest enclaves in the US. When my friend, who I'll call Mary, first moved to this neighborhood, it wasn't uncommon to have to point to anything you wanted in a store or restaurant. Waiters didn't speak English; they didn't need to. Now young white hipsters, priced out of neighboring Williamsburg, are increasingly moving in, and the language of the streets is changing. I live in fear of favorite little spots disappearing, leaving me wandering the streets in search of a decent kielbasa or babka, only able to find mediocre sushi on all sides. But ironically enough, fish is one of the best reasons to come to Greenpoint. If you're in New York on a Friday morning with friends coming for brunch on the weekend, make your way to Acme Smoked Fish. As the Lee brothers told us in the NY Times, Acme provides the fish for most of the purveyors in the city, as well as many restaurants. Over 50,000 pounds of fish are smoked daily in their cavernous warehouse. At Citarella, Barney Greengrass, or Russ and Daughters, amongst others, you'll pay a pretty penny, but on Friday mornings from 8 am to 1 pm you can buy the same fish for much less when Acme is open to the public. Get there early to have the best selection. On the morning I took these pictures, a long conference call and slow trains left me running breathlessly to get there before the 1 pm closing bell. The table was relatively bare, but the friendly salespeople were still happy to let me sample the goods and waste their time pondering what I needed.

Please! Whatever you do, don't take my carbs away! Thanks for the blind baking tip. I have no plans to do any blind baking any time soon, but if I do, I'll be sure to use that. I think my family cookbook is one of the few things I'd run for in a (god forbid) fire. The men in my family are investment banker types - no nonsense, efficient, straight forward. But I keep one foot firmly planted in the land of the dreamers, grabbing onto whatever family ephemera I can find. I don't have much family still alive, so I must resort to running my finger over my mother's handwriting or reproducing her shepherd's pie.

3 pm is my witching hour. When I work from home, I sit in my pajamas, a cat curled under my arm (or on top of my wrists), one behind my head, my music is on, and no. one. bothers. me. This also means that no one ever says "I'm going out to get lunch. You want anything?" Every day I have great plans for accomplishments in the hours of time that lie in front of me, and then suddenly its 3 pm. I'm starving, I'm behind in my work, I'm still in my pajamas, and I have no idea what to eat. Today was no exception. So, behold, leftover open-faced sandwich. Challah bread and chicken from Sunday night, with artichoke cream, spinach, and grape tomatoes. After a while I got tired of all that soft bread, picked the rest of the topping off, and then fetched some hummus and Armenian cracker bread.

Ah, I should know better than to make generalizations. Perhaps it is more midwestern, as my grandfather is from Oklahoma, and my family moved quite a bit. Please take this all with a grain of salt - the best thing my grandmother could make was tuna noodle casserole, yes with the potato chips on top. The whole thing is about simplicity - you don't have to mess around with a candy thermometer or hot melted sugar, or worry about it setting up. But don't think I'm defending this stuff! I haven't eaten it in at least 15 years, and have no plans to any time soon. If I'm going to eat fudge, it's going to be the good stuff.

You might cook much faster than I do, but I'd hate to try to make a mille crepe cake in that time limit. Also, how much can you do in advance? I always let my crepe batter sit for a couple of hours. In your shoes, I'd try to do something relatively easy but work on flavors and presentation. So, for example, a purchased ice cream served with sauteed bananas. But the bananas could have rum, brown sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves. You could let the ice cream soften slightly and mix in rum soaked raisins or other flavorings. Or red wine poached pears, or poached figs, you can play with the flavorings they are poached in. served with an amazing ricotta or mascarpone. I love a grunt or a stewed fruit with dumplings, but I suspect that will look too rustic to garner many presentation points.

Good morning! I've been to the gym, and have had breakfast: I'm not usually a big egg eater, but I majorly overestimated the number of eggs I'd need for Pieathon so I'm trying to work my way through them. Inspired by last night's dinner, I added a couple of dollops of horseradish to the eggs. And of course, my favorite turkey bacon and a slice of challah. Right now I'm rying to make a quick plan for the week. I still want to take you to several Brooklyn neighborhoods. I've got tons of pictures of Greenpoint, and Atlantic Avenue, as well as Cheese Trail pictures. I need to do a shift at my food coop tomorrow morning, and it would make sense to then go through Sunset Park for lunch. Then I have people coming over for dinner on Friday night - perhaps you all would like to help me decide what to make? I keep thinking about the harissa roasted fish I had a few weeks ago, but I wonder if that would be too spicy for every palate. So maybe a chicken with preserved lemons, and harissa and/or charmoula on the side? Something like this? I don't have a tagine, but I do have a dutch oven. And I have a kooky idea for dessert that's not Moroccan at all. Think Elvis. In between I need to get some work done!

After dinner, we hung out in the kitchen chatting while I pulled together a quick dessert. There's something to be said for doing a lot of baking and having useful ingredients on hand. But, I didn't want to serve pie, when I'd be sending her home with five of them. We had some frozen yogurt, so I made a quick chocolate ganache and spiced pecans. I never make the pecans the same way twice but generally I melt some butter with brown sugar, toss in the pecans, some cayenne pepper, cinnamon and ginger. You know how to make ganache - heat heavy cream, add chopped chocolate (in this case Scharffen Berger 70%), whisk. Some good coffee, lingering conversation, and many laughs. It was a good night.

A quick recap of dinner, then I'm off to bed. Who knows where this recipe came from, but it's part of the regular arsenal. Like a Broadway star, it's a triple threat: easy to make, relatively healthy, full of flavor. The main ingredients: pork roast, horseradish, mustard, bread crumbs, cabbage, red onion, balsamic vinegar, s n' p. Breadcrumbs are toasted, and the pork is browned. The breadcrumbs get mixed with a couple tablespoons each of mustard and horseradish, and then spread all over the pork. Mr. Piggy takes a nice warm nap at 400 degrees until he reaches 140 degrees. Meanwhile, I cut up half the cabbage and the onion and wilt it in a pan before adding balsamic, water, and brown sugar. I leave it alone except for a few stirs until the liquid is gone and the cabbage is the texture I want. Tonight, after I got the cabbage going, I tossed some green beans with olive oil, salt and pepper, and stuck them in a separate pan next to the pork. When they were done, they got sprinkled with lemon zest and juice and a handful of toasted pecans. Voila! Dinner:

Okay, so all my pies are done and cooling: and dinner is in the oven. I'm making a horseradish-crusted pork roast, with braised cabbage. Originally I had planned to make a simple spinach salad, but having company prompted me to upgrade to roasted green beans. In general, my entertaining philosophy is to make basically the same thing I'd make if there weren't guests. I think people want to feel comfortable and relaxed, not fussed over. I know my food tastes good; I don't need any fireworks. But, without anything particularly interesting to put in the salad, the course changed slightly. I thought I might have time to finish this before my guest arrived, but she is here! So more later.

I thought the judging was worse than the cooking. Katie Lee Joel had such insightful comments as "chocolate and orange are a really good combination." There was never any commentary about the crumb, or the texture, or flavor combinations that didn't work, or anything remotely intelligent. Cheddar cheese (or velveeta) fudge is such a southern tradition. I can taste the chemicals in it, but I do admit it gives a lovely soft texture, and is rich without being overwhelming. But why not do a cream cheese fudge instead, for a similar fluffy texture without all the plastic flavor? Plus, the sourness would help combat all that caramel and white chocolate.

I forgot to add: in order to combat underbaked crust, RLB instructs you to bake your pie directly on the floor of the oven. I start it out there, but move it up to the bottom rack after about 15 minutes.

why do i keep hearing "Let's get it on" in my head??!! Nna our part maine coon, yoda, used to eat the kernels of corn from a cob he held upright in his paws. great that your 'puter is up and running. next time remember to visit your local branch of the library and talk to the reference librarian. many times you can insert your photo chip in the computer and post - trust me - that's how i did my blog. one of my co workers daughter just moved to brooklyn so i am passing this link on to her. blog on ← I would have loved to keep blogging last time but.... I spent several days trying to fight the virus on my own, trying everything I could think of to throw at it, without success. Once I determined that I was going to have to cough up the money to get it fixed, I was so behind on my work that I needed every second of library/internet cafe time to get that done before I had house guests for 8 days, and then the pieathon. When your work is all internet based, it's devastating to lose your computer. Next step is saving for a second laptop so that I don't fall into that trap again. But at least this week was free so I could keep blogging!

Here's my version of a pumpkin pie. (This would have been better to show you all BEFORE you spent the weekend feasting, but oh well. Such things cannot be helped.) After the pastry crust is rolled out, it gets coated with crushed gingersnaps. RLB calls for a mixture of gingersnaps and pecans, but I think this way is better. I'm always looking for big and deep flavors, and I think that while both give a subtle effect, the gingersnaps add more to the final flavor. (Look Susan! hands! and earlier was my handwriting.) That goes into the fridge, and then the freezer to chill. Meanwhile, I make the filling. I cook together a can of pumpkin puree, a cup of brown sugar, a couple of teaspoons each of ginger and cinnamon, a 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala, a grating of nutmeg, and a teaspoon of salt. After a few minutes, the mixture is pureed. I then add milk, heavy cream, 3 eggs and vanilla, and puree again. Then the pie crust is filled, and bakes at 375 for 50 or so minutes.

Sugar cream goes really fast: Into a graham cracker crust goes a mixture of heavy cream, milk, flour, and granulated sugar. You dot the top generously with butter, and sprinkly heavily with nutmeg. This gets baked at 450 for 10 minutes, then 350 for 30-35 minutes. When it comes out, the sugars have caramelized, the nutmeg is fragrant, and the custard is creamy.