Breads Bakery - Cheesecake Babka

Breads Bakery makes my favorite chocolate babka (see review here), so imagine my excitement when I found out they make a special cheesecake babka in May.  I wasn't too sure how I'd like it, as I'm normally so-so on most cheesecake, but obviously I had to try it.  First sign that I would like the cheesecake babka was when I was in store, and one of the workers was handing out free samples of their cheesecake...and it was deliciously light and airy; not too dense, not too sweet.  The babka was just as good; the cheesecake filling went very well with the buttery bread (how could it not?).

That said, I still prefer the chocolate babka, as 1) it's chocolate, and 2) there are more layers, but the cheesecake babka is definitely worth trying at least once.

Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival 端午節)

Duanwu Festival (端午節), or more commonly known in English as Dragon Boat Festival, commemorates a patriotic Chinese minister name Qu Yuan (屈原).  The holiday is on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, and the most common traditions are eating sticky rice "dumplings" called zongzi (粽子) and racing dragon boats.

Qu Yuan (340-278 B.C.) was a poet and minister who lived during the Warring States period.  He served King Huai of the Chu state (楚懷王), but was slandered by corrupt officials and exiled when he opposed King Huai's decision to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin (秦).  During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote some of the greatest poetry in Chinese literature, expressing his concern for his state.  Legend has it that his health deteriorated due to his anxiety, and when Qin captured Chu's capital, Qu Yuan committed suicide.

The local people greatly admired Qu Yuan and raced out in their boats to save him, but when they could not find him, they dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat the rice instead of Qu Yuan's body.  That is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing and zongzi.

A quick note on zongzi because surprise, surprise, I love food -- zongzi are sticky rice with different fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves (or other leaves such as lotus, banana, reed) and then steamed.  The types of fillings vary from region to region.  For example, northern China zongzi tend to be sweet and dessert-like, while southern-style zongzi tend to be more savory.  Popular savory fillings include pork belly, salted fish, mushrooms, peanuts.  Red bean paste is a common sweet filling.  Jianshui zong (碱水粽), meaning "alkaline water zong," is a special type of dessert zongzi that is typically smaller with no filling; the sticky rice is treated with lye water or potassium carbonate to give it a distinct yellow color, and they are often enjoyed with sugar or a light syrup.

As for Dragon Boat racing, there's an annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New  York, and the race this year takes place on August 12 and August 13, 2017 in Flushing Meadows Park.  Not sure why they don't do the race on or closer to the actual holiday, other than perhaps it's still too chilly right now.

But anyway, happy Duanwu Jie, and hope you enjoy some zongzi! 端午節快樂!

Made Nice

Made Nice is nice.  Before trying it, I was expecting it to be a pretty decent healthy option, but now that I've had it, I think it's too good to actually be healthy.

We tried the Salmon Rosti, Khao Salad, and Pork n' Carrots.  I tried really hard to think about which I liked the best, but they're all sufficiently different and all good; I'd happily order any of those again.  Note I didn't  even have these fresh; I ordered these to go in the afternoon and had them later for dinner.

Salmon rosti -- the rosti was really well done with a light crisp.  Soft boiled eggs are also always a plus.  The salad and dressing tasted light, which was a good balance to the saltiness of the smoked salmon.

Khao salad -- the beef was decently tender, and I really liked the slightly charred broccoli and the crunchiness of the broccoli and rice.  The parmesan added a nice creaminess to bring it all together.

Pork n' carrots -- the pork confit was also pretty tender and flavorful, but I was surprised on the upside by how sweet the roasted carrots were.  When I took my first bite, I could've sworn I was eating a plantain, but that's not an ingredient according to the menu.  I bet it's a trick.

I'm looking forward to coming back and trying other items on the menu.

    

Sushi on Jones

I think it's very good sushi at this price point (12 pieces of sushi, omakase, for $50), but I would not rank it at the top of my favorites list.

Overall most pieces of fish met baseline expectations and were reasonably fresh, but nothing too memorable.  (To be fair though, I had somewhat high expectations given the hype.)  The Hokkaido uni was very good and creamy, and I'm glad it was served twice in the omakase -- once alone, and once on top of the wagyu; we also ordered the uni-wagyu hand roll, so I had it three times, but more on that in a bit.  The scallop and bluefin tuna were also quite good.  

The wagyu was the most disappointing for me.  The quality of the meat wasn't that great, and it was stringy/too chewy.  But having had wagyu in three pieces (once alone, once with uni sushi, once with uni in hand roll), I will say it got better with each one.  Perhaps it needed to be blow torched a bit longer to make up for the quality of the meat itself.

Despite not liking the wagyu much, I felt compelled to order the uni wagyu hand roll separately anyway (costs additional $12), and while I enjoyed the roll, it was really not worth $12.  It was small, but on the plus side, I felt like the uni-wagyu flavors were more balanced in the hand roll than the other uni-wagyu sushi.


Also, I was bummed that there was no crab and we instead had oyster.  I am totally okay with replacing pieces depending on what is fresh, but oyster seemed a bit too boring.

Current Exhibits at The Met -- the Old, the New, the In Between

The Met always has an expansive collection worth seeing, but two in particular, both currently on display, piqued my interest.  The first is "Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties," and the second is "Rei Kawakubo / Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between."  To make our lives even easier, they are located right next to each other on the same floor (2nd floor, Tisch Galleries).

Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C. - A.D. 220)
At The Met Fifth Avenue, April 3 - July 16, 2017

This exhibit features nearly 170 objects from ancient China, including rare ceramics, sculptures, paintings, and textiles, but perhaps the most exciting (at least to me) are the terracotta warriors.  The Terracotta Army (兵馬俑) is a large collection of unique terracotta sculptures depicting the armies and palace attendants and performers of Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), the first emperor of China.  These life-sized clay sculptures were created with the intent to be buried with the emperor and to protect him in his afterlife.

The Terracotta Army was discovered in 1974 by workers digging a well outside of Xi'an and is one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the world.  The workers found thousands of clay soldiers, each with unique facial expressions and positioned according to rank, lined up in trenchlike, underground corridors.  There are soldiers with different types of weaponry as well as horses and chariots -- in a nutshell, it was a replica of Qin's actual army.  There are three main pits with the Terracotta Army, and in other nearby trenches, there are non-military figures, such as court officials, acrobats, and musicians.  Most of the site remains unexcavated, including Qin Shi Huang's actual tomb, as workers soon discovered that the terracotta sculptures lost their color and turned gray after being exposed to the air.

The Met dedicates one room of the Age of Empires exhibit to the terracotta warriors, which include actual items from the site as well as replicas.  It's not quite the same experience as being in the actual trenches in Xi'an, but this is much more geographically friendly and still quite enjoyable.

    

One other interesting item on exhibit is the burial ensemble of Dou Wan, who was the wife of Prince Liu Sheng of Zhongshan during the Western Han dynasty.  The burial suit is comprised of small jade plaques, each shaped, fitted, and strung together with gold wire.  It represents the completion of a magical transformation of a deceased's body, as the jade suit protects the body and soul, enabling the deceased to attain immortality.




Rei Kawakubo / Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between
At The Met Fifth Avenue, May 4 - September 4, 2017

The opposite of ancient is modern...very modern...Kawakubo.  Rei Kawakubo is a Tokyo-based designer known for her avant-garde designs and extremely unconventional (perhaps unwearable) clothing that challenge our notions of beauty, taste, and fashion.  Since founding Comme des Garçons in 1969, Kawakubo has consistently redefined and challenged fashion and aesthetics.  This spring 2017 exhibit is the Costume Institute's first exhibit dedicated to a living designer.

The Art of the In-Between features nine expressions of "in-betweenness" in Kawakubo's collections: Absence/Presence, Design/Not Design, Fashion/Antifashion, Model/Multiple, High/Low, Then/Now, Self/Other, Object/Subject, and Clothes/Not Clothes.  Kawakubo's designs explore and reveal the spaces between these dualities, questioning our arbitrary definitions and offering possibilities for innovation.

But all that said, I'll still be the first to admit that I don't always understand modern art.  The backdrop and explanations certainly help provide more context, and I can appreciate the intent, creativity, and art behind the designs; however, conservative, boring me had a hard time seeing the designs as wearable clothes.  (Would you wear any of these??)  Then again, I feel that way about a lot of runway, couture designs.  I guess that's why I don't work in fashion.

              

abcV

abcV is Jean-Georges's new vegetarian restaurant.  Despite being carnivores, my friends and I were looking forward to trying something healthy with high potential of being delicious too.  The short verdict is we enjoyed our meal but didn't love every dish, and overall we were hoping for better, considering it's JG.

The cauliflower was my favorite dish.  It was crispy on the edges and flavorful on its own, even without the delicious cheesy sauce.  The pomegranate and pistachios were also a nice touch.

The beets were simple but delicious as well. The chili aioli and pickles went well with the dish.

The burdock noodles were very fragrant and flavorful.  The only thing we didn't like about this dish was the tempeh, which had a strange mushy yet crumbly texture.

The whole artichoke was pretty good with the olive oil dip, but the dip alone was pretty salty.

The chickpea hummus and pine nut and lemon dips were okay, but not that memorable, except that there were very few pieces of pita and a lot of vegetable crudités.  We opted to get both pita and crudités for each dip, and we ran out of dip (and pita) way before we were done with the veggies.

I had high hopes for the spinach spaghetti, but found the flavor to be too tart.

The dosa also didn't taste too authentic.  It was ever so slightly on the thick side, which meant it was on the doughy/chewy side and not crispy enough.  We got it with the avocado and sprouts, which were fine, but they were served on the side and not wrapped inside the dosa, so it felt like a random pairing to me (why avocado and sprouts with dosa, other than everyone loves avocado?).

Anyway, overall nothing was bad, but I'm not sure this would be at the top of my list to try again.

          

City Cakes

Cute place and delicious cookies (I've only tried the half pound cookies).  Great and exciting flavors in addition to classics.

I tried the rich chocolate chip and the macomochip nutella-filled cookies.  Overall texture of the cookies was crisp on the edges and still chewy on the inside.  The chocolate chip was indeed rich and chocolatey, especially when served warm.  I preferred the macomochip nutella cookie though, even though I did get to try that one fresh and warm (I actually tried to heat it up myself to have a more gooey/liquidy nutella filling, but I wasn't able to quite get a gooey interior...but still delicious).  The crunch of the macadamian  nuts balanced nicely with the nutella.

Compared to Levain, these are flatter (if a half pound cookie can be called flat), hence less chewy on the inside and more crispy.  I personally prefer the gooey insides of Levain, but these are quite good too, and they have more flavors.  Perhaps next time I will try the red velvet or the peanut butter one...or both.

  

  

Thursday Kitchen

What makes the dishes here special are all the sauces.  Every dish was flavored nicely, although not all of the dishes were cooked as well as I had hoped.

Avocado -- the greens vinaigrette and yuzu sour creme were delicious, and the pickled radish paired with the sauces added a nice, tart taste that was balanced out by the creaminess of the avocado.  That said, I'm not sure it was worth $9 for half an avocado with some sauce, however delicious it was.


Crispy Chicken -- the black sesame crumble and sweet and spicy sauce were great, but the chicken itself was a bit overcooked and dry.


Chicharoon -- this was a winner; the meat was tender with a great crisp on the skin.


Soft shell crab -- sadly, this was the weakest link and was overly battered and overly fried.  The wasabi remoulade was good though.


Kimchi paella -- this was more like risotta than paella, but it was deliciously creamy.


Drinks -- the "it" thing here seems to be the Capri-Thursdays, which are essentially flavored soju drinks that come in huge plastic bags the shape of Capri Suns...served with crazy bright LED ice cubes that scream "party."  We tried the Lychee Reach Rich, which was pretty good.


Service -- everyone was super friendly and helpful with giving recommendations, explaining the dishes, and checking to see if we were happy.  That said, the food came out extremely slowly for us, for some reason (the table next to us ordered after us and were done with dessert before we were done with our second dish).  The food was also served in a somewhat weird order.  The first dish we got was the kimchi paella, followed by the avocado, and then someone asked if we were still waiting on food.

Baked Oatmeal Bars Recipe

Baked oatmeal bars are simple to make and versatile to serve -- oatmeal makes it breakfast/brunch appropriate, and the chocolate and fruit make it a delicious snack and dessert.  This is as healthy as it gets for chocolatey desserts!

Ingredients

2.5 cups all natural oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 cups milk

1 large egg

2 tablespoon butter, 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup berries, e.g., sliced strawberries, blueberries

1 ripe banana, sliced

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts, optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F.  Lightly butter an 8x8 casserole dish.  Mix the dry ingredients, berries, and chocolate in the casserole dish.  Top with the sliced bananas.  In a separate bowl, mix the milk, egg, butter, and vanilla.  Pour onto the oatmeal mixture, making sure the oats are soaked evenly.  Bake for 35 minutes.

  

Nachos Recipe

Be it Cinco de Mayo or just any ol' gathering, nachos are always crowd pleasers, and super easy to put together.

Ingredients
1 large bag of tortilla chips
1 pound ground beef
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 jalapeno, diced
1 can black beans (or beans of choice)
1 whole avocado, pitted and diced
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
Sour cream, optional
Scallions, optional
Cilantro, optional

Instructions
Heat olive oil in a skillet and add half the onion and the ground beef.  Add salt and seasonings, and stir to combine.  Cook until brown, then add the beans and half the jalapeno.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until cooked through.

To make the pico de gallo, combine the other half of the onion with the tomato, other half of the jalapeno, half the lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste.  Add cilantro if using.  Cheat version: buy store-bought salsa.

To make the guacamole, dice the avocado and mix with the remaining lime juice and cilantro (and jalapeno, if desired).  Smash avocado pieces to desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Variation: leave diced avocado as is instead of making guacamole.

To build the nachos, place a layer of tortilla chips on a platter.  Top with a layer of the beef/bean mixture and cheddar cheese.  Then top with another layer of chips, another layer of beef/bean mixture, and the Monterey Jack cheese.  Continue to layer.
    

Melt cheese in the oven at 325F for a few minutes, or microwave in 45 second increments until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Top with pico de gallo, guacamole, scallions, cilantro, sour cream.