New York City Highlight No. 1: Banana Pudding at Magnolia's

So I went to NYC last week (for a conference (ahem) more about that later). I could do a whole NYC diary but I'm not sure I have the time and you have the inclination so instead, I'll pick my top 5 best experiences from this trip. So here goes:

While I definitely left my heart in San Francisco, New York makes it beat just a little faster. There is nothing as cool as emerging from your train/plane/bus in New York and immediately melding into the crowd, amongst crisp fall or winter air and twinkling buildings. There's something about it that just makes me feel ALIVE.

But this post is not about my heart, or perhaps only indirectly in vague health-related ways that we should not dwell on right now. This post is about my stomach. It's a post about a very happy food discovery that I made this trip. And to make up for my silence, I shall start my New York posts in the most delectable way possible.

Without further ado I present to you: The Banana Pudding at Magnolia Bakery



The picture could never convey to you the greatness of this humble looking pudding- custard, vanilla wafers, ripe bananas and whipped cream!



This is all of us digging into the banana pudding for breakfast- this is after we ate it for dinner. The next day we ate it after lunch, and the day after that, FOR lunch.



If you're a sex and the city fan (I'm not) you know that this is where Carrie got her cupcakes. But an excellent tipster told us to steer clear of the cupcakes and go for the pudding and now it is only my duty to pass the wisdom along (although pretty much all my readers were actually with me in NYC eating this very same pudding, so who am I kidding).



The inside of the store is 'cute' in a very chick-lit, girly, pastel sort of way.It really looks like it could be the cover picture for a chick-lit book with curly hand writing and a giant pink shoe on a tiered cake...that sort of thing. It's set on Bleeker street (401) in a pretty neighborhood- very NYC. But really forget the ambiance, the cuteness or the pop-culture relevance. Just follow the sign and eat the banana pudding...



The adoring masses....lined up for the cupcakes no doubt, poor things- tsk tsk!

Meal of the Month: Asti Cafe

Meal of the month deserves its own entry:

I was going to be shameless and pat myself on the back for the best yet iteration of my eggplant pahi. I made this on the night of the inauguration and nodded blissfully to myself as I thought "you're good. really good."

10 minutes later: Oh My god! What am I saying?! The eggplant can wait. No, the best meal of the month was undoubtedly Pine tree's delicious birthday meal at Asti Cafe. It was so good, I'm going to share pics:

My Ravioli was rich and satisfying with fresh cheese and an absolutely elevated vodka sauce...



Pine tree's tortellini di bernardo (spinach tortellini, mushrooms, garlic sauce and prosciutto) was very flavorful as was blue-eyes' eggplant dish which I could not get a pic of.



The Tiramisu was luscious and moist and not too rummy



But the piece de resistance was the Creme Brulee - just superb with a caramel that was just the right amount of bitter-salty.



The service was a trifle snooty but that did not detract from a great meal- I'll definitely be back at Asti and for my fellow 'cuse dwellers, check it out!

Reason No. 23652: interfaith baking contest

One of the many reasons I think John Mayer is cool is that he has sustained a direct and 'unmanaged' relationship with his fans despite having exploded onto the mainstream. Despite his rapid success etc. there is something genuine and unpackaged about how he comes across...

Exhibit A: For the past few weeks Mayer has been really into baking. Over the past few weeks, his blog has been taken over by all things baking....the famous obama cake, his families cakes, fan submissions and even more fan submissions (some of which are just stunning in design and concept), his live baking posts etc. That's cool in itself.

Then came the 'interfaith baking contest'. The idea was simple- send in a picture of your holiday baking. JM will then pick his favorite and the winner gets a John Mayer autographed signature series fender stratocaster, which even I with zero knowledge of guitars can tell you is a pretty sweet prize. Contest closes on the 22nd btw

The response has been really cool. JM sites and boards are full of earnest discussions about fondant and frosting and just where to get the perfect cupcake stands instead of gossip about Anniston., the email account for submissions is constantly full etc. It has been a lot of fun to follow. And to take part in!

Very early on I decided to enter the contest but I've never really baked anything! Slight problem! I had an idea but no skills, scant equipment and little courage...So I sent a message to 7 of my best friends (about whom I have a long- overdue post coming soon). I didn't really expect much of a response- it was the end of semester, people had stuff to do, places to go, parties to plan... but lo and behold a week later we found ourselves at tulip's house, baking away.

I present to you the following pictures along with an extract of the email I sent:

Title/Concept: 'The (cupcake) world as we would like it to be' (cupcakes for peace)

(Basically we took the 'interfaith' part of your contest seriously and decided to make the most inclusive, all encompassing, interfaith bunch of cupcakes we could think of). You'll see the major religious symbols sure, but also cupcakes for atheism (the white one), agnosticism (the question mark), darwinism (the jesus fish with feet), pro-gay rights (the rainbow) and even one called enlightenment (can you guess which one?).

Medium: cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, silver and other balls, icing (baking is a lot easier than I thought!!)

Having seen the really brilliant works of art submitted by fans (seriously check them out), I don't think our 'cupcakes for peace' are going to make the cut. So I may not win the fender or john mayer's heart....

But that's not even the point. I have something way more valuable....7 of the best friends anybody could ever hope for.

To my gang: thank you guys for coming in the middle of a snow storm, despite busy schedules in a crazy weekend to help me bake. It was such a lovely afternoon! I'll always remember tulip's expert baking, lotus teasing me about my 'multi-culturalism' cupcake which she thought (incorrectly) looks like nothing, bluebell's intricate evil eye and heather's irreverent atheist and darwin fish designs... Saffron's meticulous, professional looking cakes and violet's painstaking beautiful rainbow...We played with tulip's beautiful baby, devoured our cupcakes and photographed them lovingly, while laughing and chatting about life...

So with those lovely memories, I close the book on my involvement in the great interfaith baking contest of 2008. Thanks to my wonderful friends, also for my sister's and mom's sage advice about concepts and flavors from thousands of miles away, thanks to all the people that ate our cupcakes (the downside to baking 24 cupcakes is that you're left with 24 cupcakes) and of course to a certain musician for being the impetus for it all....if Mayer's aim was to foster a communal holiday spirit, I can say from our experience - mission accomplished!

I'll close with some of my fav cupcakes-( I also loved the rainbow, the atheism and evil eye but they got eaten before I could take pictures...)

I call this 'enlightenment'



This one I call 'Will I find love? Only with divine intervention' (Or something to that effect)



The Darwin Fish



And this one by saffron sums it all up...Just perfect.

Today I made Khichuri- a dish I normally detest. It's something I've always associated with being sick, or being lazy - just a hodge podge- in fact I'm pretty sure that's what a hodge podge is- of a dish. 

But it's been years since I ate it and since I am running perilously low on groceries I decided to try it out. And lo and behold, I was transported to another time, like smells and food will tend to do. 

Suddenly, I was reminded of my grandmother who used to make the dish with fired eggplants and potatoes and the most delicous tomato chutney. I saw clearly the small round cane dining table we used to eat at, with the sound of crickets and cricket in the background. My grandfather urging us to eat more of those side dishes, looking forward to mangoes.

Funny, how nostalgic something I so dislike made me. It was great. 

Just a tart

 

Inspired by John Mayer's clever letters to a pear and cherry tomatoes, here's a little love letter to the egg custard tart, another San Francisco treat. It will be nowhere as funny (not even close) or original (though I'm pretty sure JM was not the first to write something like that) but the feelings are sincere.

Dear Egg tart-

I remember the first time I saw you. You weren't my type really- cheap, shiny, jammed in with all these other unsavory characters and you smelled like eggs. I wasn't sure if I was ready for this. I'd heard about you from friends. They raved about how far they would go just to have you, how difficult someone like you was to find in a small town like ours, some had asked me to bring a piece of you back. So I was curious. I thought what the hell- how bad can you be? You were almost too easy to get a hold of, waiting there in that grimy room.  And you know what? I liked it. I like how beneath the flakiness and the slightly salty exterior your sunniness shone through- like a shiny yellow beacon. Even though you were smooth you were accessible and unassuming and just the right amount of sweet. I remember thinking about you for days after, hanging around your neighborhood so I could run into you again, even planning my meals around you. I figured I would get over it. I was surrounded by a lot of other distractions- like genki crepes and green tea icecream. I know, what was I thinking. 

But that afternoon in the shady little place in Chinatown, when I least suspected it, I saw a whole new side to you. I never knew what it was like to meet you early in the day, before the bitterness of the day had gotten you colder and raised your defenses under your glassy front. You were unexpectedly warm, so fresh and bright- and it would never be the same again. 

Now I'm far from where you live - we move in different circles, you're a big city, multi-cultural type. I'm here in a small town where your type are hard to find. I look for you wherever I go to the places you'd hang out but all I find are pale, cold, cloyingly sweet imitations- not you at all. Sometimes I see your name on menus and quickly ask for you, trying to hide my excitement, only to be told "you're not available today". I see how it is. So as I 'settle' and satiate my desires with sesame balls and sticky rice, know that you're in my thoughts. Egg custard tart, I'll never take you for granted again. 

love,

D