Monthly Archives: December 2010

December 29, 2010 · 1:47 pm

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams… and napping babies

You know how when your friends are pregnant, they talk about how they’re going to be that super cool mom and nothing in their life is going to change?  And then they squeeze out a kid (or in my case, have it removed via the jaws of life) and they become lame, lame, lame?  Every conversation becomes focused on how much the kid is pooping, breastfeeding, napping, and pooping again?  Your friend can’t hold a decent conversation about anything because every 2 seconds she starts baby talking to her infant.  Well, welcome to Lameville, population: ME.  I’m baby obsessed.  Every waking moment is consumed with my little milk monster, as we’ve affectionately named him.  And basically all my moments are waking… I think I’m getting about 4 hrs of sleep a day – not consecutively.

Usually on New Year’s Eve, my husband and I get together with our friends Eunice and Reg and we invade my old boss, Dave’s house.  We arrive with our own communal bottle of Don Nacho tequila and as many bottles of bubbly as possible so that we can sabre them while 3 sheets to the wind, spraying glass everywhere.  My boss has 2 young children and no matter how hard we try to keep the shattered champagne bottle glass contained, these poor little guys wake up barefoot on New Year’s day to a mine field of broken glass.  Last year we sabred in the bathroom, which seemed brilliant at the inebriated time, but really just meant a bathtub full of glass shards and one broken bathroom window.  Just for the record, that broken window was NOT my fault.

This year, we are spending New Year’s just the 3 of us.  Our little Lameville family will probably choke down some food as quickly as possible, do bath time for the baby, and all be asleep by 10PM… if we’re lucky.  BUT, I have big plans for New Year’s Day!  In Vietnamese tradition (or maybe just my mother’s personal superstition), there are some guidelines for how to conduct yourself on New Year’s Day.  First, don’t do anything that you don’t want to repeat for the rest of the year!  Only do activities that you want to do everyday for the next 365 days!  Next, don’t throw anything away – you could accidentally be throwing away good fortune!  So, this New Year’s Day, I’ve decided that as soon as we can get our little one down for a nap, my husband and I will be snacking on Osetra caviar and some really delicious bubbly.  We are doing it up in style and taking a temporary reprieve from Lameville.

I’ve already got 2 ounces of American farmed Osetra caviar, which I ordered from Rue la la at a discount… but not much of one… this will still be a DAMN expensive little snack.  Next, I needed a really delicious glass of bubbly.  I’m only allowed one glass a day, so it has to be as delicious as possible.  No Cava, no Prosecco, no skimping, especially since it’s accompanying caviar that’s worth more than my shoes.  Well, skimping a little, maybe.  I called in a favor and asked my friend, Christie’s Wine Expert Amanda Crawford, for her Top 5 Champagne picks under $50.  I met Amanda while working at Murray’s – she frequently taught our Wine and Cheese pairing courses.  When people see Amanda’s name on the Murray’s class schedule, her classes usually immediately sell out.  It’s not only because the lady has a baller palate and knows it all when it comes to wine, but it’s also because of how she conveys it to you.  Passion, people!  You sip the wine and she’s your tour guide through every taste sensation, providing energetic commentary on what you are smelling, tasting, and feeling.  You put down your glass and feel like you’ve just returned from a week long vacation in the wine’s country of origin.  Yup, she’s THAT good!

Instead of bastardizing her words, I’m going to just quote her for your reading pleasure (and yes, it’s a bit of a shortcut for me since baby is up and demanding food).  Where I could find it at Astor Wines & Spirits, I’ve provided a link:

“As for Champers, there are literally so many incredible Champagnes on the market right now that I absolutely adore with all of my heart.  Skip the Grand Marque houses and head straight for the Grower-Producers (you can see on the label by the tiny, infinitesimal RM on the front label.  This means Récoltant–Manipulant, i.e. owns land and grapes, as opposed to an NM, Négociant–Manipulant, which means they buy grapes).  Obviously, this doesn’t tell you about the quality of the juice, but it does tell you that the person who made the Champagne had more control and direction in the growing of the raw material….a good sign.

Anyhoo [Yup, Amanda uses it to so it MUST be a word! Sorry for interrupting].  The most basic level Champagne starts around $35 these days, so with $50 you’re looking at really fantastic Non-Vintage or Multi-Vintage wines for the most part.  The ones I’m digging are:

Voirin-Jumel Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs NV $35.   All Chardonnay from Grand Cru village in Champagne, this is stelly, intense and tons of citrus and tart apple fruit.  Super high acidity. [It’s Mindy, sorry to intrude again, but “blanc de blancs” means that the champagne is 100% Chardonnay – a really excellent pairing with your creamier, custardy caviars.]

Loriot Blanc de Noirs Brut Réserve NV $40.   The main three grapes in Champers are Chardon, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, and most Champs is a blend of all three.  This is super cool because its is mostly Pinot Menuier, so it is a totally different expression of the wine.  I pair this with cheese all the time in classes and it is a huge hit.

Pierre Peters Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Réserve NV $50: I just love this producer and will buy anything they make.   The guy who imports them, Tierry Thiese, calls this a cross between Champagne and Mosel as these wines have intense concentration and tons of mineral expression.  Lots of fruit and herbaceous aromas.  All Chard, too. [Yup, it’s me again.  This is the champagne that I’ll be tenderly sipping on Jan 1!]

Henri Billiot Brut Réserve NV $50: Unfiltered, no dosage, no malolactic , Pinot based Champagne that is absolutely stunning with a wide array of usual fruits on the nose.  Sure, you get cherries, but you also get plums and flowers.  Neat, powerful, concentrated, top quality stuff.

Jean-Milan Carte Blanche Blanc de Blancs $50: 100% Chard, this is the most floral and “pretty” Champagne I’ve ever had.  It’s rounder, not as steely as others.  Romantic.

[And Amanda added a little something special to blow the budget, but I decided to go for it and buy a bottle to keep for a special occasion!] For you, special bottle.  My favorite Champs of all time is the Vilmart Cuvée Rubis Rosé.  Its $80, but f*ing incredible.  Fermented in oak, its decadent and delicious.” [I censored a little there because I’m a mom now and the F word is off limits unless someone really deserves it in an F you sort of way, which nobody has yet… so that’s good…]

So, as I sit back and enjoy my glass of Pierre Peters and my mother-of-pearl spoonful of Osetra with my husband while frantically watching the baby monitor for signs of movement Jurassic Park/Aliens style, I hope that you will spend your New Year’s Day surrounded by garbage and clutter, eating something truly decadent.  I will try to post pics on New Year’s Day to force myself to continue blogging for the next 365.  Cheers and thanks for reading!

1 Comment

Filed under How to sabotage your diet

December 27, 2010 · 7:04 pm

I’m Dreaming of a Malaysian Christmas…

When I found out that I was pregnant, the first thing I decided to do was renovate my apartment. I’d been talking about it since my husband and I bought it 3 years ago, but we never got around to it. Actually, I told my husband that I didn’t want to move into my apartment in the middle of nowhere upper east side unless there was an awesome kitchen and a washer/dryer in unit to tempt me, and he said, “No problem! This apartment doesn’t have any of that and it’s almost a mile from the subway. But don’t worry because it’s a deal and we’ll renovate to make it what we want!” And then every time I asked him about it after we moved in, he said, “Oh yeah, sure sure, we have to do that. I’ll ask around.” … … … That’s the sound of crickets chirping and classic husband inaction. So, jacked up on pregnancy hormones and all-day morning sickness (that’s how we do in the disaster world), I found my own badass contractor (plug for Paul O’Hare – best damn contractor in the world) and as I like to say, “gilded my upper east side cage.”

And I managed to cook some incredible meals for the 1 month I had before my water broke while I was googling “what does a contraction feel like?” Since then (3 months) I basically use my kitchen to make eggs in the morning. I did make Thanksgiving, which felt fantastic although it was dairy free because my son has colic and dairy seems to aggravate it… It was pretty tasty, but a truckload of cream and butter would have really made that meal. I now do takeout at least every other day, which is nothing new to the Upper East Side where very few people seem to actually cook. And yet, with all these takeout aficionados up here, the diversity and quality of takeout choices is lacking! There are some good ones that I will touch on soon (like my Cafe Evergreen weekend dim sum brunches), but there are also some dogs.

My Asian roots are crying for some spice! While my son is napping this morning (thank every deity in the book for that little piece of good fortune), I’ve been looking through my old pics of food and drooling. And right now, it’s a little Malaysian goodness that’s got my mouth watering and counting the days until my son is decently immunized so I can strap him to my torso and make the hike to Chinatown!

New Malaysia sits in an alley, behind another restaurant, right off Bowery, and yet STILL the place is always packed. My friend told me that it was a must try after scoffing at my recommendation of Nyonya on Grand St for Malaysian cuisine. I still enjoy Nyonya, which I like to think is just an acronym for “New York O’ New York-ah,” but it just doesn’t compare to New Malaysia.

My first craving is for a little Roti Canai – the same, delicious, but softer and doughier version of the Kati Roll wrapper served alongside a delicious chicken curry dipping sauce. Red curry spiciness with sweet and rich coconut milk perfectly balance the mild, flaky, and just a tad sweet roti. This is like buttering a croissant and dipping it in chocolate sauce… Asian style. There’s never enough roti to finish off your entire curry dipping bowl, so I always eye around the table to see who’s eating slowly or maybe even dieting so I can scare them into forking over a piece of their roti. It was easy while pregnant – who’s going to deny a pregnant woman food? Only a really bad person would do that – you know who you are. Another proven method of scaring food away from people is showing them your triceps cellulite and then explaining that you didn’t used to have those dangling sacks of fat before eating whatever it is you’re trying to weasel away from them. Unfortunately, my dining partners usually just ignore me and use their arms to circle their plates defensively.

My only complaint is why is the roti so damn small for such a generous portion of chicken curry? Not the time to be stingy here...

Up close and personal with flaky goodness

Next up are crispy and chewy fried and dried anchovies in Malaysian belecan sauce… because what’s yummier with your little bits of fishy goodness than some funky shrimp paste and chili seasoning? Nothing. This is one of those dishes that I think helps you figure out whether or not you’re going to get along with someone, like a good blind date dish. You’re either the type of person that looks these little fishies in their eyes, takes a deep whiff of that Chinatown back alley funk and thinks, “Awwwww yeahhhhh, I gotta get me some of this” or you’re that “other” type of person that I don’t usually associate with unless forced to. You know, the type of person that won’t eat anything with eyes or that smells a little fishy… the type of person that you usually catch grimacing and wrinkling their nose as they tiptoe through chinatown holding their pant legs up so they don’t step in anything… the type of person that I literally can’t talk to for more than 5 minutes without antagonizing in some way while my husband grabs my hand under the table, silently begging me not to make another food enemy the way I alienated his second cousin by telling her that Magnolia cupcakes taste like a combination of chalk and dirt, mashed together into a dry cupcake shape, iced with the overly sweet taste of sellout. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, you either like these little umami bites tossed with more umami goodness, complimented with sweet and tangy barely-cooked red onion crunchiness, or you’re a culture-hating nazi. Ok, maybe not a nazi, but we would not get along…

Fried dried anchovies in a shrimp paste sauce - like tasting Chinatown... in a good way.

If you can't eat this dish because the anchovy is staring at you, stop reading this post and this blog. Never come back.

Just keep swimming through your meal, because we’ve got bigger fish to fry… literally. You know what was shocking about my first time eating fish in a non-Asian restaurant when I was a teenager? The fact that the fish came on my plate vs. being served family style and also that its head was missing. No fish head? But then who gets to eat the fish eyeball? Listen, I know – you don’t have to be a nazi to not want to eat a fish eyeball. I will give you that. But all I’m saying is that a fish eyeball is pretty damn good. It has the texture of a stale gum ball – really chewy – but the flavor of really light but savory fish jerky. I’m not selling it, am I? It’s like durian – Westerners can’t stand the smell, but it doesn’t bother me at all because it smells like durian, which is delicious. At New Malaysia, order yourself any of their whole fishes, either fried or steamed. I like the deep-fried red snapper in jawa sauce. What is jawa sauce? It’s delicious. I kept asking the waiter and he would answer by pointing at the sauce on the fish. It’s like asking “who’s on first?” What is jawa sauce? It’s the sauce that comes with the deep-fried red snapper. I kept asking, he kept repeating that answer until I asked him if I was being punked and he just stared at me blankly. I googled it later and Jawa is an Indonesian island so I’m guessing jawa is not an ingredient, but just refers to the style of sauce.  All I can say is that this dish is damn delicious – the sauce has a meaty savoriness to it that’s so perfect with the crispy snapper skin underneath and the pale, juicy, flaky flesh.  It’s like wearing a perfectly cut and draped, sleeveless velvet cocktail dress to a holiday party.  At least I think it is – I usually show up at holiday parties in jeans with at least 3 shots of Don Nacho tequila warming my system.  Not anymore, though, cuz I’m a mom!  So don’t call social services on me just yet, people!

Do you choose the red snapper? Or what's in the box? If you get the movie reference, I heart you.

Can someone PLEASE tell me what's in the jawa sauce???

I hope your holidays were as delicious as possible!  I actually lucked out and my parents roasted and brought 2 ducks to my apartment this year, complete with potatoes and asparagus sautéed in duck fat and some sticky and wild rice stuffing that makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  All I had to do was make some buttery smooth yukon gold mashed potatoes, an apple tart, and a deep dish caramel pumpkin pie… and those little tasks took FOREVER as my son decided to feast on his holiday meals every 1.5 hours:)

Stay tuned for my next post all about CHAMPAGNE!  Good news is that I’m back off the wagon, but the bad news is that I can only have 1 glass a day.  I know, some of you are shaking your heads and saying “I only have one glass a day because I’m uptight, blah blah blah” and judging me.  Well don’t.  Anyhoo, when you can only drink one glass a day, you reallllllly learn to pick and choose what it is you’re sipping.  So I called in a favor and picked my Christie’s wine expert friend’s brain for her top 5 picks under $50!  Let’s hope that my baby gives me the opportunity to post again before the New Year!

1 Comment

Filed under Eating my feelings and paying for it

December 5, 2010 · 4:11 pm

My, what a difference a year makes…

So… what’s new with you?  How’ve you been?  Chit chat, chit chat, chit chat.  Ok, fine.  I know.  I’m a crap blogger and I’m lucky that the 5 people who still check this blog have jobs so boring that they’re forced to type in my ridiculously long url in hopes of a 2 minute distraction.  And to those 5 people, let me just say I’m sorry for not posting and I’m sorry in advance for this poorly organized post!

I have a lot to cover.  First, I’m no longer working in food.  Actually, I’m no longer working at all so to speak.  Shortly after my Fondue & the City mixer at Murray’s, I found out that fondue and beer really do mean love… I was preggers!  Finding out the news basically threw my life into disarray and gave me new found perspective on everything.  I decided to leave Murray’s (with 2 months notice as I can never seem to leave a job with the standard 2 weeks notice like a normal person) and work part-time at FCI while redoing my apartment kitchen.  Goodbye galley, hello open, stainless steel, marble counter heaven!

And hello BABY! After 22 hours of labor (yup, 22 glorious hours) and one c-section, my GIANT 8 lb 13 oz baby boy arrived with a head of dark hair and bright beautiful eyes to a chorus from my doctors and nurses of, “Whoa, he’s huge! No wonder he wouldn’t come out.”  Magic.  Simply magic.  Not so magic are the remaining stretch marks, but let that be a lesson to pregnant women everywhere that daily belgian waffles with strawberries are not conducive to moderate weight gain.  My son (how weird does THAT sound???) is by far the most demanding boss that I’ve ever had and has reduced me to basically a milking cow, but he’s also the best thing that’s ever happened to me – well, he and my husband are because without my husband, I wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.

Now that I’m unemployed with absolutely no time to string together a coherent thought, I figured it might be a good time to post again!  Yup, that’s classic Disaster logic for you.  I’m not sure what I will be able to write about as I’m 1) Not really cooking so much as speed-dialing takeout and 2) Not feeding my baby anything except for excessive quantities of breast milk.  Oh, I should also mention that my baby has almost doubled his weight in 2 months – he’s a sumo wrestler.  The kid looks like he ate another baby in the hospital nursery.  The nurse at his pediatricians office didn’t believe me when I said he was 2 months and went to verify it with the doctor.  Have no fear, I’m sure I will think of something…  Maybe I’ll write about what I wish I were eating right now instead of the horribly healthy rice cracker with hummus that I’m using to crumb up my keyboard.

What I’m dreaming about right now is actually a bottle of Goose Island Oatmeal Stout.  Here’s the thing, if you’re a mom who’s breastfeeding, it’s supposed to be perfect for you because it helps you produce milk.  So I should be able to drink it, right???  Not so fast.  I, being the freak of nature/walking disaster that I am, have the opposite problem and have an oversupply of milk.  I could feed a small country and if I were granola enough, be making cheese out of my reserves like that crazy chick who brought hers to Murray’s and made our VP taste it (that didn’t go well, by the way).  While pregnant, I dreamed of an excuse to be able to drink up the Oatmeal Stout’s rich, nutty, dark, slightly savory goodness… And now, of course, I can’t touch the stuff for fear that I will become more milk than woman.

So please, good readers, whether you’re breastfeeding or not, go find a bottle and drink it up for me!  I welcome you to laugh at my expense while you sip its frothy goodness.  Just know that as you do, I will be viciously hating you with every fiber of my being.  That’s right, motherhood has not softened me.  Not. One. Bit.  Cheers!

3 Comments

Filed under What I Wish I Were Eating